Micky Mellon hails ‘ruthless’ Oldham after convincing win over Cheltenham

Micky Mellon praised his ‘ruthless’ Oldham players after a resounding 4-1 home win against Cheltenham.

It was a first win in seven league games for Oldham and halted a worrying slide down the table.

Left-back Jamie Robson scored twice for Athletic – his first goals for the club – with Calum Kavanagh and Favour Fawunmi also on target.

Mellon’s side had scored only one goal in their previous four league games, but found the net three times inside 41 minutes.

And the Oldham boss said: “We’ve been creating chances. I’ve been saying we need to be clinical – today we were ruthless.

“We also hit the post twice and there were a couple of times when we were through on goal.

“There were a lot of positives and no negatives, though I will try and pinpoint what we can do better.”

Mellon is hoping the win will be a catalyst for improved fortunes.

“Football is all about winning, and when you do that it changes the world. I have been telling the players a goal changes the world,” he said.

Mellon also praised Stoke loanee Fawunmi who scored, provided two assists and also struck the inside of the upright.

“He was brilliant and he’s such a talented lad. We’re pleased to have him here,” he said of the 20-year-old, who had been in West Ham’s academy.

“He ran out of steam four or five games ago as we felt he was jaded and who had probably hit the Football League with a big rack of games and done a lot of speed running which had started to affect him.

“It was the same for Kane [Drummond], but today they looked fresh and full of passion for the game and the two of them gave really good accounts of themselves.

“They looked like they ran out of stamina [near the end] which we will work on that. If they are to become top players, top, top players have stamina and keep going.

“To be fair both are very new to the Football League and both learning. The next stage of their careers is going to be important.”

Cheltenham manager Steve Cotterill refused to blame the loss of centre-back Robbie Cundy in the warm-up which forced a rejig of the whole team.

“That is no excuse for the way we played today. We can still make a better game of it,” he said.

“I’m annoyed with the whole performance which was not good enough.

“The defending for all the goals was poor – we were poor all over the pitch.”

Freddy Willcox scored Cheltenham’s consolation, though Jake Evans had a big chance to reduce the deficit to 3-2 early in the second half.

“I would have put money on Jake taking that chance. It’s a big weight on the young man’s shoulders,” Cotterill said.