Latics manager Lee Johnson spoke to his club's official website after his side's 2-1 League One win defeat against Carlisle at Boundary Park, Johnson very unhappy with Oldham's opening 45 minute display:
“The second-half had to be much better, I don’t think it could have got any worse after the first-half. Obviously, second-half we came out and gave it a go and we made the changes, and to be fair the changes influenced the game. It gave us a bit of momentum and a bit of energy and allowed us to play on the front foot. It was a risky one to use all three substitutes at half-time, because obviously if you get an injury then you are in trouble and you are playing with ten men.
“But, I felt it was that bad in the first-half that we had to make sure that we did something, because to get some sort of momentum, energy, flow to get going in the game. They are clever, Lee (Miller) takes a hit every time he gets the ball, we told them about that before the game yet he still won eight fouls. So, it is that little bit of savvy that we are lacking at the moment in this game, well in this 45 minutes. We have to park it and move on because there are games coming thick and fast, but at least we have got a bit of pride back in the second-half.
“I felt that we could have had a penalty for handball in the first-half, we did feel that. To be honest I don’t know what the referee (Michael Naylor) was thinking, he basically said it was handball but felt he couldn’t get his arm out of the way and yet his arm was up by his face. So, I don’t know what his thought process was there, but obviously you will have to ask him that one.
“But, the first-half was poor, very, very poor and I apologise. Could I blame myself? Possibly, have we over-cooked it his week trying to get them bright and sharp? Maybe, yes. Obviously, all these things are running through my head now, I have just asked them because they were leggy and yesterday they were razor sharp in training.
“Now what it is, it is a mental toughness that ,it is a mental desire, it is winners, winners can play and get six, seven, eight out of ten even when they are a little bit leggy. But, I will take the blame for that one, I have obviously over-cooked it in training, but I would rather be leggy the odd game than not fit enough for 46 games."
“We had three good chances late on, basically two one-on-ones with the keeper (Mark Gillespie). Again, on another day, you get another one with ten minutes to go and all of a sudden we are like the Alamo. But, it was one of those days, it is a bad day at the office for us, obviously it is hurting me and all we can do though is take stock from it, learn quickly and get ready for two big away games.
“We have to make sure that we get the players’s legs back, we will have to make them hang upside down all weekend just to get the lactic out of them. But, it is not that, it is a mental strength, that is the difference. We have all been tired and leggy but it is the real desire to go and win, and like I say, I will take the blame for this one but going forward we have to know that mentally we have to be a lot stronger.
“The fans were fantastic and I couldn’t agree more with them, we have to give something to the fans for them to be able to get behind us. Obviously, it is difficult, they played quite a good tactical game where they get people behind the ball and they shut us down very well. They probably won the game in the first 20 minutes with the way they started and the way we started. Infact we tried to do exactly what they had done to us, but we didn’t have the intelligence or the bravery to take and receive the ball in tight areas.
“Obviously, we missed Lee Croft, he is an experienced player but Bobby (Robbie Simpson) did alright today to be fair, I thought he was probably one of our best players and was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet. But, Kirk Millar was very bright, I just felt that we needed that bit of energy. I put him upfront, I know he has played wide but from what I have seen of him in training he is quite a good instinct player. He needs to learn a little bit about when he has got time and space, but on instinct he can be a problem, and to be fair he worked hard and showed a very good attitude.”