Johnson’s joy at an improved Oldham
LEE Johnson believes Oldham now have a platform to build upon after claiming their first win of the season.
Jonson Clarke-Harris’ fourth-minute goal and Jonathan Forte’s cool 58thminute penalty were enough to seal a deserved win for the visitors.
The win moves Athletic out of the drop-zone and leaves under-par Rovers still seeking their first home league win of the campaign.
Boss Johnson said: “Hopefully this will give us a platform to kick on and to keep improving. I believe we can be competitive in this league.
“I am super happy with the players, they stuck to the game plan perfectly.
“We have been through a tough time, but the players have been working very hard on the training pitch.
“It was even in the first half, but we were magnificent in the second half.
“I did not see the penalty, but if it was a penalty it should also be a red card. I do not want to take anything away from the lads, we deserved that win.”
Rovers manager Paul Dickov felt his side had looked tired and were not at the races.
He said: “It is disappointing to lose after we had momentum from our previous two games.
“We went into the game with confidence, but it just did not happen.We looked tired and lacked a spark in the final third.
“Maybe I can take some blame for that and should have freshened things up after the midweek game.
“We know teams will come here and defend deeper and hit us on the break and we paid for that.
“Conceding the goal so early put us on the back foot from the start.
“We then made changes just before they scored to get some momentum, but their second goal killed the game off.”
Oldham got off to a flying start when Clarke-Harris scored from Mike Jones’ inswinging free-kick on four minutes.
Jed Steer then saved well from Jonathan Forte’s fierce effort on seven minutes as Athletic enjoyed early pressure.
Paul Keegan, Reece Wabara and Nathan Tyson all threatened with half chances as Doncaster finally found their stride.
Kyle Bennett then hit a firm 25-yard effort just wide on 34 minutes as the home side began to dominate possession.
But former Rovers winger Forte scored his fourth of the season to double Oldham’s lead from the spot on 58 minutes after Luke McCullough fouled Danny Philliskirk.
Rob Jones produced a brilliant goal-line clearance to deny Forte his second after he had rounded Steer on 69 minutes.
Philliskirk nearly made it three in the dying stages to add to the misery, but failed to net.