Latics return to action tonight with a trip to Surrey to face Woking and manager John Sheridan gave his thoughts ahead of the fixture.
Sheridan’s side are back on the pitch following a ten-day break after the trip to Boreham Wood on Saturday was postponed as a mark of respect to HM Queen Elizabeth II.
Latics will be looking to atone for the defeat in the last outing against leaders Chesterfield and Sheridan says the squad is focused on responding in the correct fashion.
“We’re pleased to have the chance to get back to action after the sad loss of the Queen and the fixture programme last Saturday being suspended,” he said.
“The manner of the defeat against Chesterfield in our last game was obviously disappointing, especially the way we conceded those early goals, so it’s important we put in a good performance.
“It’ll be a tough game against Woking, they’ve shown what they can do by getting some good results and have a number of players who have got good experience at this level so I expect them to make it difficult.
“We’ve seen so far that it’s a very even league and like all games in this division, every team will go out onto the pitch thinking they can win and that’s what we’ve got to do.
“We were due to be travelling a lot this week before Saturday’s game was called off but the postponement has given us an extra few days and we’ve got to be confident going into the game.
“We’ve got another home game coming up on Saturday but we’re going to Woking knowing that it is all about winning.”
With a number of absentees affecting the squad, Sheridan has been forced into several changes in recent weeks.
Five loan additions have now been made, the most recent of which was striker Joe McGlynn from Burnley.
The 19-year-old arrived at Boundary Park on Thursday and Sheridan has been pleased with the striker’s impact in training.
“Joe is a young player who I’ve spoken to a few people at Burnley about and we’ve had some good feedback about him,” he said.
“He’s only young but he’s an aggressive player who will get into the right areas and we’ve already seen in training that he will work his socks off.
“From what I know about him he’ll be a good addition for us. He’s the sort of player who leads from the front and this is a good move for him. Ports [Chris Porter] should be back running next week but we obviously needed someone to cover that area.
“We’ve got a few long-term injuries but the squad for this match isn’t too dissimilar to our last game. [Harrison] McGahey is back fit and I think we’ve got a strong enough squad to go and put in a good performance.”
Woking currently occupy tenth position after a draw at Wealdstone in their last outing, which came on the back of an away win against Torquay.
They were victorious in their first two home games of the season, against Dagenham and Scunthorpe, before defeat against Wrexham, but Sheridan expects his players to respond in the right way.
“When we lose a game like the one against Chesterfield, you always know it’s important to try and bounce back by winning,” he added.
“I’m disappointed with the points tally we’ve got so far, I believe we should have more at this stage, and we’ve got to try and get a lot more consistency in our performances.
“We’ve been very up and down in terms of how we’ve played but I know we’re good enough as a squad to perform better on a regular basis and we’re focused on getting the wins for us to move up the table.”