Oldham Athletic manager Lee Johnson feels his side have come out of the January transfer window stronger and feels they are better-placed to mount a climb up the table.
Oldham secured the services of Jacob Mellis, Jake Kean, Conor Wilkinson and Rhys Murphy, while James Dayton, Paul Rachubka and David Mellor all departed.
Johnson’s men could move to fifth in the table with victory away to Barnsley tonight and believes his team are well-positioned to do so.
“As a manager, it has been a fantastic transfer window. We have kept all of our best players and we have improved in certain areas which is what we try and do in every window,” he said.
“There are a lot of people spending money. Sheffield United have just spent over a million pounds on a right back so it’s quite impressive by League One standards.
“Scunthorpe have brought in the Dutch striker who is a good player so they are having a go.
“We are doing well because we are in the position we are after a good win, and we will continue to battle with teams like Rochdale and teams in that group of eight to ten teams to compete to get into the play-off places.”
Ten sides are within six points of the play-off places in League One, and so Oldham’s recovery after some heavy defeats has been crucial to them keeping pace.
The Latics have won two, drawn one and lost since conceding 13 goals in three defeats at the end of last year.
Johnson believes in such a tight division every game is important, and believes his side are capable of outlasting the other runners in the congested race for the play-offs.
“It’s a big game – they all are now,” he said.
“We have been on a little bit of a decent run of form and individual players are playing well. We want to make sure we get wins and we will be going there to win the game.”
Main image courtesy of OfficialOAFC via YouTube, with thanks.
