HARRY Kewell knows his side can entertain all they like – it is points that matter at the end of the day.

Latics welcome struggling Barrow to Boundary Park on Tuesday night sitting 17th in the League Two table as the ups and downs continue with the Australian at the helm.

Kewell will hope his side can build on a resolute display at Tranmere on Saturday that saw Dylan Bahamboula’s stunning strike hand his 10 men a point in the 2-2 draw at Prenton Park.

Despite matching another top side in the division, and playing more eye-catching attacking football, the Oldham boss heads into the Barrow game with mixed emotions however, knowing a lot of his side’s wounds this season have been self-inflicted.

“I proud of them for what they showed at Tranmere but they should never have been in that situation in the first place,” Kewell told The Oldham Times.

“In football, you have to be able to adapt. When we did go down to 10 men, we fell apart for the second goal a bit, although that had a bit of fortune, but the character and the attitude my players decided to attack the game with, you can’t say enough about that.

“But we need to start backing up these good performances with more points on the board.”

It was a similar tale at Forest Green a few days earlier in the 4-3 defeat against a side right in the promotion hunt, defensive errors costly on a night where Latics should have brought at least a point back from Gloucestershire.

Goals have been no issue but Kewell says he is also continuing to refine things in the final third to ensure Latics make the most of their opportunities.

“We’ve got to have that killer instinct, that final pass, that final ball to destroy teams,” he said.

“We’re getting into a lot of good positions but we just need to push that little bit more.

“The hardest thing to do in football is score goals, it’s very easy to let in goals, as you can see, but the hardest thing to do is be creative and unlock the defence and to be able to give your attacking midfielders and strikers the opportunity to have an attempt on goal.

“I take my hat off to my team in the way that we do attack because we attack as a team and we defend as a team, we take the good and we also take the bad.”

Kewell has vowed to rotate his squad through the hectic period and there will be an enforced change at the back against Barrow following Sido Jombati’s red card at Tranmere, the defender serving a one-match suspension.