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"Carlisle had a great result on Boxing Day and I'm expecting a very hard game. I think Carlisle are in a false position. They have some excellent players and got to the play-offs last year. They have managed to keep most of the squad who got them there.
"Carlisle will beat lots of teams, and even though they are in the bottom half I think they are a side who could put together a six, seven, eight-game unbeaten run. Although it is going to be a very hard game, I see no reason why we can't stretch our unbeaten run even further. Draws aren't much good to us - we need to win the game. I set us a target of seven points over the Christmas period and we need three more to achieve that."
In team news for Oldham ex-Gretna stopper Greg Fleming will keep goal with veteran Mark Crossley sidelined with a hamstring injury, and also at the defensive end of the pitch, Sean Gregan is on stand-by to replace centre-half Stefan Stam after the Dutchman limped off with a hamstring problem in the 3-0 win at Crewe.
Meanwhile young left-back, and former Barrow loanee, Paul Black is still out following ankle surgery. Finally striker Matty Wolfenden is fit again after recovering from a knee injury, but he looks unlikely to feature in the Latics matchday sixteen.
Despite the cold spell in the last couple of days Oldham say that there will no problems with the Boundary Park playing surface, frost covers having been in place since Christmas Eve which will not be removed until the morning of the game. Latics Chief executive Alan Hardy commenting to the official website :
"We checked the pitch this morning and it was fine. The surface is covered and we anticipate no problems."
The referee for tomorrow's match is Darren Deadman from Peterborough, and he will be assisted down the lines by Simon Clayton from Newton Aycliffe in County Durham and Chris Akers from Doncaster. Meanwhile the fourth official is Ian Nolan from Rochdale.