OLDHAM boss Dino Maamria believes Salford City loanee Carl Piergianni will be a big miss for Latics when the two sides meet at the Peninsula Stadium on Saturday.

The Ammies favourite has impressed since moving to Boundary Park until the end of the season but will be unavailable as he cannot face his parent club when the two near neighbours meet for the second time this season.

The defender was an unused substitute when Graham Alexander’s side won the reverse fixture 4-1 in the final game of 2019.

"Like I've said I hate changing the team and system,” said Maamria.  

“I like to keep that fluidity in the team because the players will get better and have more understanding.

"Carl came in and in the last two games we looked solid defensively, conceding two with one being a penalty.

“We find ourselves unfortunately this weekend looking at a different back four again and my focus this week has been trying to get that back four or three, whichever shape we're going to play working together and getting that understanding.

"It's not been easy the change of personnel, we knew January was always going to be difficult with players leaving and coming in. But my focus has always been on the process and the bigger picture."

Maamria is also not shying away from the result in the reverse fixture and wants a response from his side.

"It's important I mention that (the Salford defeat) to the players of course,” the former Stevenage boss said.

“It's not like any game, they came here and beat us and that hurt, it hurt a lot.

"We've got to go there and make sure that we do the right thing and put on a performance for our fans first and foremost because they're turning up in numbers again.

"So it is a big game for them, it's an important game for us and we've seen their investment during this month, so the pressure is there for everybody to see.

"I've watched the first game back on video, I always like to do that and just refresh the memory. I know their team has changed now, they've got (Michael) O'Connor, Bruno (Andrade) and (Tom) Elliott so they have a few new faces and may have a few more before the weekend, we don't know.

"We know them very well though, they know us pretty well, as well. I think it's going to be a good game, an exciting game, we look forward to it but nobody is just going to go to Salford and get given the three points.

“We've got to work our hardest to get that important win."