Pete Wild fears he and his squad all face the scrapheap after Oldham downed tools during a limp 5-2 final-day defeat to Northampton.

The Latics wilted at the hands of their fellow mid-table finishers at Boundary Park, despite an early Johan Branger-Engone strike.

Wild and many of his players are out of contract this summer and the Oldham-born manager says no one proved they deserve a new deal for next season.

“If that was a game of contracts none of us got them, we’re all on the ‘rock and roll’. I think the less said about the game the better,” he said.

“It was a tough afternoon and one that had the potential to go our way early doors but got away from us and unfortunately didn’t live up to anything in the end.

“I talk about professional integrity every time I walk through the door and sometimes it must be tough but I just think, you’ve got to work and give everything every day. Did they give everything they could today? I think we all know the answer to that.

“I’m really proud to have been asked to manage this club on two occasions. It is my club, the town I grew up in and the team I’ve followed for 28 years so I’m really proud I got the chance and I’m really proud that hopefully I gave the best account of myself that I could. I now take stock and we’ll see what the summer brings.

“I’ll go away, I’ll take stock and I’ll learn and I’ll move forward. Apart from today it’s been a great stint.

“The lads just didn’t try hard enough and they didn’t work hard enough.”

The Latics got off to the perfect start. After a driving run by Callum Lang and neat interplay with Chris O’Grady the ball fell to Branger-Engone.

With a swing of his left foot he managed to direct the ball in off the near post from the edge of the area.

Mo Sylla had a golden opportunity to put Latics even further ahead but he couldn’t direct his free header from Mohammed Maouche’s free-kick on target.

The home side were left to regret that miss when the Cobblers’ Sam Hoskins pounced on a loose ball on the edge of the area and smashed it into the top corner before crossing for captain Aaron Pierre to power home amidst a statuesque home defence.

The away side were rampant and just before half time striker Andy Williams got on the scoresheet. He followed up a rebound after Daniel Powell’s run and low shot had hit the post.

Williams bagged his second on the other side of the break, sweeping his right-footed shot after good work from Foley into the bottom corner.

Latics grabbed a lifeline when David Cornell tipped Branger-Engone’s free-kick onto the crossbar. Lang followed it up the rebound and got one back for the home side.

That spurred the men in blue forward.

Branger-Engone fired one over from range and substitute Dapo Afolayan forced Cornell to turn a sweetly hit strike around the corner.

Alex Iacovitti then nearly bundled the ball home from the resulting corner.

Williams could have had a hat-trick but he chose to square for Shaun McWilliams who screwed his shot wide.

But that was just a warning for Oldham as Junior Morais, on for only two minutes for the Cobblers, found himself in acres of space and fired home.

Wild added: “It was not the greatest of 90 minutes. It just wasn’t us. The first 15 minutes we did well but after that as everybody saw. It just wasn’t good enough. 

Oldham Athletic: (4-2-3-1): Iverson 5; Hunt 5, Hamer 6, Iacovitti 5, Nepumuceno 4 (Swaby-Neavin 65, 5); Sylla 5 (Uche 45, 5), Missilou 5; Lang 6, Maouche 5, Branger-Engone 6; O’Grady 5 (Afolayan 45, 5). Subs not used: De La Paz, Taylor, Baxter, Benteke.  

Northampton Town (4-1-4-1): Cornell 6; Turnbull 7, Pierre 8, Williams J 7, Goode 7; McWilliams 7 (Elsnik 82, 5); Hoskins 8, Foley 8, Powell D 6 (Morais 79, 7), Pollock 6 (Powell J 64); Williams A 7. Subs not used: Coddington, Cox, Bowditch, Bridge.

Referee: Thomas Bramall

Attendance: 5,291