John Sheridan hails Oldham spirit in lifeline victory over Leyton Orient

Posted Wednesday, March 30, 2022 by PA

John Sheridan hailed the spirit in his squad as Oldham earned a lifeline in their battle to retain Football League status with a 2-0 League Two victory over Leyton Orient on Tuesday evening.

The Latics had been winless in their past eight matches going into the game, but were the better side and were deserving of the three crucial points.

“There’s a lot of spirit about us tonight,” said Oldham manager Sheridan. “When you win it’s always good, but there was a lot of spirit about us.

“We knew what the situation was and we played like we were fighting for our lives.

“I’m pleased for the players to get a result and a clean sheet and obviously the supporters who were again magnificent.”

Oldham were handed the lead in the first half when Orient defender George Ray nodded into his own net.

And Callum Whelan capped off the evening in the fifth minute of added time when the Latics took advantage of the goalkeeper going up for a corner to score on the break.

The result puts Sheridan’s side level on points with 23rd-placed Stevenage and the two sides will face each other on Saturday.

He added: “We know the situation we are in and we’re going to have to put performances in. I’m going to be so loud for the next seven games – it’s massive that we stay in this league.

“I’m going to push and we’ve got to push.

“Full credit to the players, we were on a losing run and hopefully that result will give us a bit of confidence going into that big game on Saturday.

“We are where we are and it is what it is. We’re playing the team who’s closest to us so hopefully we go there and get the result we want.”

Orient struggled however and – former Oldham manager – Richie Wellens was not pleased with his side’s performance.

He said: “We got absolutely what we deserved. They were better than us, there was more intent than us and they worked harder than us.

“First half, we only had two or three attacks; second half we had a little bit more.

“But from where we’ve been to where this performance is, it was nowhere near the levels that we set ourselves.

“The biggest thing is the performance. Sometimes when you play football you can’t control the result because things might go against you but you can control the performance.

“And you can definitely control how hard you work. We were nowhere near the levels today.

“If you don’t work, you don’t run and you don’t fight, you don’t deserve any luck. We’ve had a little bit of luck in these last few weeks.

“When you sit off teams and you don’t work as hard as the opposition then you don’t deserve a little bit of luck.”