Oldham Athletic manager Lee Johnson believes his side need one more win this season to secure their League One status ahead of Saturday’s match at Carlisle United.
The Latics are seven games unbeaten and currently sit in 16th position in the division (five places above the drop zone), with 51 points.
They won four of those points over the Easter Weekend, with Connor Brown scoring his first of the season to gain a 1-0 victory at Colchester United, before they then drew 0-0 at home to Coventry City.
However, Johnson believes it will be tough for his side to maintain their good run of form at Carlisle, who are 22nd in the table.
“Carlisle are fighting for their lives,” Johnson said.
“We’re going to need a point. We’d be very unlucky to go down on this points tally but it’s still a possibility. The boys want to continue the run and we’ll go to Carlisle and be up for a big battle.”
Johnson will be looking for his side to produce an improved performance from the Coventry match, which he described as ‘flat’ and ‘testimonial-like’.
That, he said, was due to the run of difficult and high-intensity games that his team had been on, but he was happy with the points return from those matches.
“It was a good return from a difficult period,” he said.
“[Against Coventry] We defended really well and the midfield three broke up the play well, but I felt we could have won it.”
Of their 11 shots on Monday, only two were on target, and they were indebted to goalkeeper Paul Rachubka for making a fine save late on to prevent them losing the game.
If Oldham do manage to stretch their unbeaten run to eight matches and secure survival, the focus will be on making strides next season.
Johnson said: “We are looking up now and we have to set the tone for next year.”
Main image courtesy of Official OAFC via YouTube, with thanks.
