MOHAMED Maouche has praised Oldham boss Dino Maamria for his and the team's upturn in fortunes.

The 27-year-old came off the bench to replace the injured Zak Dearnley just after the half hour to score the third goal in Latics' emphatic 3-0 win over Bradford at Boundary Park on Saturday.

The result made it back-to-back wins and six unbeaten for Maamria's men – and cost Bantams boss Gary Bowyer his job.

Latics are now firmly in mid-table in 14th, closer to the play-off places than the relegation zone, ahead of travelling to high-flying Crewe on Saturday.

Maouche says Maamria has brought the squad together during his time in charge and has shown faith in him personally, which is making a real difference.

"I have quite a big responsibility when I'm on the pitch, I never try to hide myself I always go onto the ball and try to play, try to create chances for my teammates, so he knows that and he's pushing me, so it can only help my development," said the Frenchman.

"We know we've been in quite tough moments during this season, so that's why we've won the last two games because we wanted to improve but we've got to keep our feet on the ground, stay calm and go back to work and focus on the next game.

"We've had three games in a week so when it's like this it's always hard to work on technique or the physique or even the tactics, so he (Maamria) was more focused on the spirit to be honest so we can stick together and we felt that.

"We are really happy, we've enjoyed these last two games to be honest.

"We've played with a lot of pleasure with patience as well, but we've enjoyed it."