Preston North End manager Phil Brown was pleased with his side's 3-3 draw with the Latics. He commented, “We have got ourselves a point tonight which is the massive positive. I know that people will be bemoaning about the fact that we haven't had our top players out there tonight in Iain Hume and Neil Mellor but I thought the two young pups up front caused their defence problems tonight. The positives I can take from tonight's game are that we have gained a point, we are moving forward and we have scored three goals. If we win our game in hand it will take us back into the play-offs and that is what we are looking for but football is all about confidence. We need our players to be able to handle the pressure and at the moment we have got a couple on the back foot defensively and that is the situation that we are going to have to address.”
“We could have limped over the winning line tonight because our third goal is the one that I have been bemoaning for. We haven't had that much luck in front of goal and we have had to really earn the right to score goals in this division and one came along tonight and it was gifted to us and we still can't get over the winning line. That is what breeds confidence, it is not just about the confidence in the strikers and the midfield players, it is the confidence in the back four and the goalkeeper and that is what is going to bring results. We have got a great surface to play on, we have brilliant fans cheering us on and Oldham brought a great following which makes superb atmosphere. For me it is what you are in football for, playing under the floodlights on a Tuesday night at Deepdale.”
“You have got to have players who cross the white line and want the ball, want to defend properly and want to do their jobs to the best of their ability. I think we worked hard tonight, I can't deny that and it doesn't matter if we deserved to win the game or not. We have played well enough in some games and we haven't got our just deserves. Tonight we got an early Christmas present and we just couldn't turn that into three points. It is not all doom and gloom, however we have got to address the situation and that is that we have to be confident and positive on Saturday. The target now is to get the three points against Bournemouth and now we have to move forward again.”