Striker and last week’s hat-trick hero Chris O’Grady says he is starting to enjoy his football again with Oldham Athletic and some troublesome times over the past couple of years.
O’Grady has put in a number of hard-working performances this season with his rewards coming in recent weeks, but despite his man of the match performance against Bury, he still holds the team performance as top priority.
“First and foremost, I'm happy to be playing, contributing and winning the game.” He said.
“To get a hat-trick capped off the game quite nicely, but for all the players we've been working really hard and you get rewards, it just so happened I got rewards on a personal level.”
He has scored five goals in his last four games to show a real purple patch in front of goal which he is hoping to continue.
However, he believes the most important thing is that he’s back enjoying himself and feeling like a big part of the team.
“Hopefully it's not just a patch, it's for me to continue really because that's what it's about.” He commented.
“I've come here to get back enjoying playing football again and I'm doing that, playing week in week out and contributing being and important member of the squad like all the others are.
“If you are involved, you enjoy your football more and you get the best out of yourself which is what's happening at the minute.”
Manager Frankie Bunn was full of praise for the frontman following the game with Bury last week and he described O’Grady as a perfect professional.
The supporters have also started to recognise the work O’Grady has done over the past few weeks and he’s hoping he can continue to put in the hard work for the club.
“It's the most important thing for me when the manager is happy, it's good for him to acknowledge that without the goals he's still happy with me.
“It's what I do first and foremost I give everything and work hard and if you do that the goals will come.
“As for the fans, all you can do is represent them and hopefully the majority that know football will acknowledge the work rate and see I give everything for the club.”
This weekend’s opponents Exeter City currently occupy the last playoff position with Latics able to leapfrog their opponents with a win.
O’Grady is aware of what a win would do for Latics and he is hoping to end the last game before Christmas on a high, although he says it will be a tough contest.
“They're a solid club, they're often there or thereabouts and they'll be well drilled, but it's about us and if we perform as we can we'll be absolutely fine.
“It goes nicely, we want to finish the year off well and continue the progress we've been making and start the new year where we want to be.”
Saturday will be the start of five games in 15 days for Latics who are suffering with a few injuries in the squad at the minute.
O’Grady believes it will be about what the players do in-between games in order to get themselves through this busy festive period.
“I'm experienced enough to know how it works, you have to get your rest in-between games and make sure you're as fresh as possible.
“They are quite relentless, so you have to manage yourself, work hard in the games and make sure you recover properly and be ready for the next one.”