Oldham Athletic manager Lee Johnson insists it was his side’s work-rate and not just beating dad Gary as Latics moved to within a point from safety against Yeovil Town.
Matt Smith came off the bench to net his second in two games – and his tenth of the season – to clinch the decisive goal against promotion play-off guaranteed Yeovil.
And Johnson insisted the victory was made even sweeter as it was coupled with defeats for Scunthorpe United and Colchester United.
“What a fantastic result and I am so pleased because we didn’t half work hard,” he said.
“When you play Yeovil you have to make sure you match their work rate and we did that. We showed them up and they had no answer to our work rate.
“We have given ourselves a great chance of staying up. It is not done and we won’t get complacent about it. It is now well in our own hands.”
The win marks the 31-year-old’s third in charge since he took over in March, and Johnson added he used the family ties as a motivator for his players ahead of the clash.
“We know our players our players do well when they have media attention as we saw in the cup run,” he said.
“I used that before the game to make sure they thought about what they wanted to hear from the media – we shut them out, worked hard, scored a good goal, Lee Croft ran himself into the ground.
“We had a little cuddle at the end of the game and I felt for him because he was upset, but the relief inside me took over that emotion.
“I was almost trying to get them to think about the headlines which were going to be written. I don’t know whether it worked but they certainly struck to the game plan.”
