The Latics only managed a 1-1 draw at home to Port Vale on Tuesday night in a match which showed some tiredness by some of the players. The result extended their unbeaten run to seven matches but they still remain with only two home league victories for the season. With three of the next matches at home, the Latics need to start turning some of these draws into wins if they hope to avoid the drop. Vale had taken the lead through Sam Foley but Liam Kelly followed up to score after his penalty shot had been saved. Other matches did not go the right way for Oldham, who now lie three points away from safety.
Manager John Sheridan summed up, “It was a difficult game played on a difficult pitch and I’m just pleased we managed to come out with something from the game. The work ethic was good again but it’s not all about working hard. I’ve said to some of the lads in the dressing room, whether I can blame the conditions or not I’m not sure, but I get so frustrated when I watch and how they ignore the simplest of things to make them a better player. You can be a great player by doing the simple things right and we ignore them a lot and make life difficult for ourselves. Port Vale are a good team, they are organised and get people behind the ball and Pagey has got them solid. We had chances, though. Aaron has had a great chance to win it for us but they also had a chance to make it 2-0. It was an even game but I didn’t enjoy the game.”
“We’ve played a lot of games and the heavy conditions doesn’t help. I try not to keep going on about it but I can’t help it sometimes. I don’t want the pitch to be an excuse for us but it might end up being a good thing for us. We will just wait and see and we will have the answer at the end of the season. I’ve just seen some results which you didn’t think would happen and they have so it is what it is. We’ve just got to concentrate on ourselves and that’s all I’m going to do.”