Latics midfielder and skipper Dean Furman spoke to the Manchester Evening News and BBC Radio Manchester ahead of his side's League One game against Carlisle at Boundary Park tomorrow afternoon, Furman thinking some Latics might have a few old scores to settle :
"Carlisle will be looking to get that play-off spot but there’ll be a few of us with long memories. We’ve been three goals up and two goals up against them – and only drawn – and we’ve lost to them on penalties. We’ll be going out, wanting to finish the season on a high and take three points. Nothing changes in our daily preparation but we just need to grind out games when we aren’t playing too well. Too many times, we’re on top and let a goal in – that’s been a big thing this season.
"A lot of it comes down to concentration where we’ve let ourselves down. There are a lot of issues you can look at like injuries and suspensions but there’s a lot we can do over the summer. With the team we’ve got and the new players who come in, we can start to build and look forward to the new season. I think we are all disappointed this season with where we have finished, we want to be looking up the table and not a few games ago really looking over our shoulders, and that is how it turned out to be.
"I think we look back to mid-January and we were seven points off the play-offs and we were looking up and trying to build on a decent first half to the season and it has just not happened for us. Obviously, there have been injuries to key players which we can talk about, we can talk about many things. But, quite simply for me a lot of it hasn't been good enough, we haven't had that consistency that can sustain a potential play-off push.
"That is what stands out this season, it has been one great performance followed by a bad one followed by two half-decent ones. Quite simply we have got to improve on our consistency with players leaving and players coming in, that will be one of the key things that we will look forward to on improving next season. It has been a nightmare to be honest, it has been very difficult, obviously for myself I got over a knee operation and was just beginning to feel I was in my stride and feeling really good only to break down again.
"Then since I have come back I have never really been myself, it is still not 100% and I need the summer to rest it up. But, I have got on with it, I want to play every game possible. So, it has been very frustrating for me but we are there for another season and we will look to improve in many departments next year. There will be a lot of boys out of clubs this summer, which is a scary thing to think about. But, for me I am looking forward to getting a little bit of rest, getting myself 100% again and I can really hit the road running again pre-season."
In team news for the Latics tomorrow they will be missing four players through injury, the quartet being Alex Cisak, Youssouf M'Changama, Chris Taylor and James Wesolowski. Goalkeeper Cisak having been out with a shoulder problem since late March, while Marseille-born midfielder M'Changama is rested after being knocked unconscious and taken from the field on a stretcher during Oldham’s 0-0 draw at Bury last Saturday.
Meanwhile midfielder Wesolowski has been sidelined since the end of January with a persistent shoulder dislocation problem, and dangerous winger Taylor, due to an ankle ligament injury, has been out of the Latics side since the beginning of last month. Oldham boss Paul Dickov also without the defensive duo of left-back Paul Black and centre-half Zander Diamond having recently released the pair early from their contracts which were due to finish at the end of the season.
In better news for Dickov though he does have striker Shefki Kuqi back available after the Finnish international missed the Bury game due to an illness in his family, and teenage midfielder David Mellor is back in contention despite only returning to training on Thursday following a persistent bone and muscle problem to his calf over the last couple of months. Finally upfront it’s one in and one out as Matt Smith returns to the squad following a six-week loan spell at Macclesfield, but Reuben Reid is left out with his contract at Boundary Park up in the summer. That therefore leaving Oldham’s 19-man options for tomorrow as:
Goalkeepers – Dean Bouzanis and Luke Simpson.
Defenders – Reece Brown, Bradley Diallo, Kieran Lee, Jean-Yves M’voto, James Tarkowski and Carl Winchester.
Midfielders – Dean Furman ©, Connor Hughes, Keanu Marsh-Brown, David Mellor, Kirk Millar and Filipe Morais.
Attackers – Harry Bunn, Shefki Kuqi, Robbie Simpson, Matt Smith and Oumare Tounkara.
The referee for tomorrow afternoon's match is Craig Pawson from Sheffield and he will be assisted down the lines by Richard Clark from Morpeth and Seb Stockbridge from Dunston, Tyne and Wear. Meanwhile the fourth official is Chris Sarginson from Rugeley in Staffordshire.