Micky Mellon praises Oldham’s persistence and resilience after Grimsby win

Oldham manager Micky Mellon praised his side’s persistence and resilience in securing a 1-0 League Two win over Grimsby to stay in the hunt for the play-offs.

Substitute Josh Hawkes’ 82nd-minute winner stretched Oldham’s unbeaten run to seven games and knocked their opponents out of seventh spot.

But with the gap to the top seven remaining at seven points – through Chesterfield’s win at Notts County – Mellon said his players had to maintain their focus if they were to stay in with a chance of closing the gap.

He said: “I think we’ve still got work to do, but we’re certainly moving in the right direction to be involved in that.

“We’ve still got to pick up a lot of points, but we will give it everything we’ve got, buoyed on by a magnificent support again today.

“We’ve just got to keep picking up points and keep trying to win games of football and do everything necessary to try to get results at this time of the season and we’ll see where it takes us.”

A sublime finish proved to be the difference in largely-ugly contest, in which chances were at a premium for both sides at Boundary Park.

After a goalless, stop-start first half, Grimsby had good chances, with Kieran Green denied by Oldham goalkeeper Mat Hudson from close range, before substitute Jamie Walker rattled the crossbar.

But Oldham were clinical on the counter attack. Soon after coming off the bench Oli Hammond initiated the break with a clever interception, run and pass into the path of Hawkes, who finished well across Jackson Smith in a one-on-one.

Grimsby had lost only once in 14 league games since the teams last met on Boxing Day.

“I don’t think either team did enough to win it, I thought it was a real poor game, a real poor quality game and we’ve come out the wrong side of it,” said Grimsby head coach David Artell.

“I thought the first half was a non-event, we’ve had two good chances in the second half, the keeper’s pulled off a great save from Greeny and we’ve hit the bar.

“The game needed a goal and unfortunately it’s come against when we’re trying to get the winner.

“We’ve thrown caution to the wind, but I’d much rather to try and win the game.

“I think a draw would have been a fair result, but we’ve been punished for not locking the game down in the end.

“We didn’t play well at all and we’ve limited a decent team to very few chances as well, so we’re disappointed.

“There was a lack of quality on the ball. I can’t remember the last time we played that poorly in possession.”