OLDHAM Athletic boss Dino Maamria says missed opportunities cost his side as they were forced to settle for a point by early promotion candidates Cheltenham Town at Boundary Park.

Filipe Morais handed the Latics an early ninth minute advantage, but Ryan Broom equalised for the high-flying Robins with around 20 minutes left to share the spoils.

A draw is far from a bad result for Oldham, who sit 16 places below Cheltenham in 21st in League Two with 11 points, but Maamria could not hide his disappointment at not making the most of a positive home performance.

“If we had taken our chances, we would have probably won the game,” he said.

“It was a tough afternoon. Physically we tired a little bit later on and that’s something we need to work on. I tried to put three forwards on to try and win it, but we couldn’t.

“We had two great chances and if we score one of those late on, we win the game.

“I think we showed a lot of resilience and quality, especially in the first half going forward.

“It was an entertaining game. It was end-to-end and both teams wanted to win it. It was probably a good game to watch for everyone, but it wasn’t for me because I wanted to win.

“But overall, it’s a very good point against a great team who have been third in the league.”

Maamria made three changes from the side which was defeated against Carlisle last time out as Zeus De La Paz, Tomas Egert and Jonny Smith replaced Gary Woods, Zak Mills and Johan Branger-Engone.

The Robins could have gone in front when Broom’s shot was too hot to handle for De La Paz and Alex Addai darted in only to be denied by the Oldham goalkeeper.

But Oldham took the lead before the 10-minute mark when winger Smith slotted in Morais to go one-on-one and the Crawley loanee showed composure to finish past an on-rushing Scott Flinders.

Desire Segbe Azankpo could have doubled Oldham’s lead inside 15 seconds of the restart after Jacob Greaves’ poor pass, but the forward shot straight at Flinders.  

Segbe Azankpo forced Flinders into action with a powerful drive towards the top corner, while the goalkeeper stopped Mohammed Maouche’s effort from the following corner on 54 minutes.

David Wheater was on the line at the other end to keep Conor Thomas’ low shot out in a rare Robins chance before Ben Tozer was inches away from levelling after the hour mark with a low shot from just outside the box past the post.

But the Robins did draw level with around 20 minutes left when, after missing Chris Hussey’s cross, Broom volleyed home emphatically when Thomas put the ball back into the danger area.

De La Paz saved Hussey’s low drive through a crowded penalty area shortly after, before Tom Hamer should have given the Latics the advantage for a second time with a free header with 10 minutes left from Maouche’s free-kick, but he diverted wide.

While the Latics were unable to replicate the performance that saw them run out 3-1 winners over Morecambe in Maamria’s first game in charge, the Oldham boss knows his team are on the right track.

He added: “I think physically we need to get better to finish games – I want to be winning games late on rather than hanging on, if that makes sense.

“The fans were backing us from minute one, which is great to see. That’s what we need to do. We need to come together as a football club.”

Oldham Athletic (4-3-3): Zeus De La Paz 6, Tom Hamer 6, David Wheater 7, Tomas Egert 7 (Dylan Fage 80 5), Alex Iacovitti 7, Mohamed Sylla 8, Christopher Missilou 7, Filipe Morais 8 (Kielen Adams 76 5), Jonny Smith 7 (Scott Wilson 78 5), Mohamed Maouche 6, Desire Segbe Azankpo 6

Subs not used: Gregor Zabret, Ashley Smith-Brown, Jamie Stott, Chris Eagles

Cheltenham (3-5-2): Scott Flinders 7, Charlie Raglan 5 (Chris Clements 32 6), Ben Tozer 7, Jacob Greaves 5, Sean Long 6, Ryan Broom 7, Conor Thomas 6, Jake Doyle-Hayes 5 (George Lloyd 55 6), Chris Hussey 6, Gavin Reilly 5 (Jonte Smith 55 6), Alex Addai 6

Subs not used: Rhys Lovett, Dan Bowry, Will Boyle, Rohan Ince

Referee: Alan Young

Attendance: 3,496