Gevaro Nepomuceno confident Oldham have what it takes to make League Two play-offs

The winger opened the scoring at Boundary Park before netting what proved to be the winning goal shortly after the hour, with Mohamed Maouche also on the scoresheet.

Mansfield threatened a comeback with goals from Tyler Walker and Neal Bishop, before Danny Rose was denied an equaliser in stoppage time by the offside flag.

But Latics held on to boost their own promotion ambitions and when asked about the play-offs, Nepomuceno admitted the players are wary about getting ahead of themselves.

“Maybe we shouldn't talk about the play-offs but sometimes it’s what you show as a team, so if you beat the teams that are higher than you, then I think you can speak about it,” he said.

“I keep believing in the dream and a position in the play-offs. We've worked so hard to show people what we are able to do, it’s a great performance and three points is always good.

“You see that you are able to win against everyone. Sometimes you are unlucky, but all the big teams in the league that are higher than us, most of them we’ve beaten. So I’m happy with the three points again and I hope we can keep continuing like this.”

Oldham are now four points off seventh-placed Exeter with a game in hand.

Nepomuceno was full of praise for his teammates, especially for the assist for his first goal.

“Of course you are happy to score two goals, but I give the credit to my team-mates who helped me score," he said.

"It was an amazing pass from Mohamed

“Every player wants to get better and I think for me it’s one of my best performances for Oldham. I’m happy again and we need to keep going and try to win games and see what we can do.

“I keep saying I believe in my team-mates and I believe in the club so I think we can be in the play-off places because you see what we are able to do and all the teams, they come or we go there, and we show them that we are able to be in the top six.”