Micky Mellon happy to see Oldham ‘fighting and scrapping’ for win
Ollie Norburn’s goal at Northampton was enough to earn the Latics’ first away win of the season.
Oldham boss Micky Mellon hailed the battling qualities of his players after they ground out a hard-fought 1-0 win at Northampton.
Both teams struggled for fluency in a stodgy and disjointed first half at Sixfields but the game opened up after half-time as Calum Kavanagh and Owen Dale hit the woodwork at either end.
The decisive moment finally arrived with 20 minutes to play when Ollie Norburn squeezed his shot through a crowd of bodies and into the bottom corner to hand Oldham their first away win of the season.
“We spoke about needing to show that grit and making sure you battle and you scrap and produce the qualities you need in a game like this,” said Mellon.
“You have to fight for the right to play and give nothing away, which we didn’t this evening, and we took our moment.
“That togetherness between the team and the fans was there and we were all fighting and scrapping.
“We understood what you need to do on nights like this, at Northampton, in League Two, and the boys went out and did that.
“The game plan was to compete and to win individual battles first and foremost and then try and play on top of that and find the quality needed to get a goal.
“Ollie came up with a nice finish and I thought we deserved it because we worked our socks off and we did everything that was necessary to win the game.
“All credit to the boys, it’s a really satisfying result, but that’s all it is. It’s just one win and there’s still a lot to do.”
Northampton continue to struggle for consistency as they drop to 21st.
Manager Chris Hogg said: “I thought it was a low-quality League Two game to be honest and we’ve come out on the wrong end of the result.
“We didn’t do enough to win the game. The first half I thought was just really poor.
“There was no quality in the game but in these type of games, you get in at half-time and you go, ‘OK lads, it’s 0-0, let’s now try and play’, and there was a point in the second half where we looked more like what we have done.
“But we didn’t take our chances and then we got done at the other end. It’s frustrating and disappointing but that’s football.
“There were lots of times where we didn’t show composure or quality and it became scrappy.
“We showed a bit more structure in our play in the second half but football is about belief and confidence and you have to trust yourself in key moments. There were flashes of that but definitely not enough.”