Micky Mellon heaps praise on Oldham matchwinner Jack Stevens

Micky Mellon praised the impact of two-goal winger Jack Stevens as Oldham secured a third win in a row and prolonged Crawley’s travel sickness.

Stevens completed a 2-0 victory with a goal-of-the-season contender.

After giving Latics a half-time lead with a close-range finish from Jake Caprice’s cross in the 38th minute, Stevens added the second six minutes into the second half at the end of a spectacular solo run.

“I think he’s such a good player, and everybody’s now seen what he’s capable of, particularly his second goal,” said Mellon.

“I thought it was a superb finish. Other players might have panicked but he kept going and believed in himself and slotted it into the bottom corner.”

Mellon felt the win could and should have been even more comfortable for Oldham with the volume of chances created.

“We’ve got to take more of those chances,” the Oldham boss added.

“They’re not half-chances, they’re straight down the barrel of a gun one-v-one with goalkeepers.

“You’re not going to get loads of them over a season and you’ll find that the teams operating at the top slot them.

“But to be fair to the players we kept going.

“I don’t want to exaggerate but I think we had five or six that you’d be disappointed if we don’t score from, so we’re going to have to be more clinical because you’re not going to get that amount every week.

“But we’ve won 2-0, we’ve got a clean sheet and that’s me just as a manager saying that’s the standards that have got to be achieved.”

Crawley boss Scott Lindsey felt his side shot themselves in the foot after Oldham scored on a counter-attack from their free-kick.

“We get a set piece in that second half and we don’t even put it in the box, it ends up fading and they counter-attack off the back of that. Our set pieces were poor today. We were just poor all round,” said Lindsey, who apologised to supporters after a winless run stretched to six games, leaving them a point above the relegation places.

“We played with fear. We’re just anxious because of where we are.

“I’ve got to try to make sure they think about performing to the highest levels. It’s about getting the best out of the lads.

“There were so many players that were off their game and we end up losing, and rightly so.

“The fans are the lifeblood of the football club and we’ve got to give them something to cheer about. I’m sorry for what they saw today. I know it wasn’t a good spectacle but the players are hurting.”