Richie Wellens issues 54-point tally for Oldham survival
Posted Sunday, January 28, 2018 by PA
Oldham boss Richie Wellens set his team a survival target after a 2-1 home defeat against Plymouth stretched their winless run to nine games.
The Latics could not recover after conceding two early goals as they failed to climb out of League One’s relegation zone.
Antoni Sarcevic volleyed Plymouth into a 17th-minute lead when he latched on to Graham Carey’s header across goal.
Argyle struck again within two minutes, with Ruben Lameiras prodding home after Oldham keeper Johny Placide parried his initial shot.
Oldham regained hope after 54 minutes as Craig Davies crossed from the left and visiting defender Yann Songo’o sliced into his own net.
However, Plymouth goalkeeper Remi Matthews made a brilliant save to prevent an equaliser when he turned away Kean Bryan’s header.
Wellens said: “It doesn’t matter what other teams are doing – we know we will stay in this league if we get to 54 points.
“For too many games we have been playing well and losing, so I would love us to play badly and win.
“We probably need to win about 50 per cent of the games we’ve got left and we need an individual to spark us into that good run.
“It will happen, but I will have to change the way we are playing because the pitch here isn’t suitable for a short passing game.
“It’s totally against what I want to do, but we will start hitting the front men a bit earlier to get us further up the pitch.
“Every week at the moment we go behind to the opposition’s first shot on target. In our situation, you have to come out fighting.”
Plymouth manager Derek Adams praised his side for extending their unbeaten away run to five matches.
Adams said: “We have shown this season that we can compete with the best teams and, away from home, we have done exceptionally well for a good period of time.
“The players are in fantastic spirits. They can run all day, which is why I didn’t disrupt anything by making changes until late in the game.
“We are a promoted side from League Two and we are competing well. It’s about consolidating and moving forward.
“We could have been three or four goals up today with the amount of chances we created and the number of balls we had going across the box.
“The own goal gave Oldham a lift, but we dug in and over 90 minutes we deserved to win.
“Ryan Taylor was very good up front and the midfield three gave us the platform to go forward.
“We weathered the storm when we needed to and I’m very pleased.”
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