KEITH Curle said he felt "let down" and bemoaned a lack of leadership within the Latics changing room following a 4-1 defeat at Mansfield in their final away game of the season.

Zak Dearnley scored on his comeback from injury, but that was the only highlight on a disappointing afternoon for Oldham as they were soundly beaten by Nigel Clough's Stags.

Latics have found better form on the road this season but struggled in the first half and were lucky to keep it down to a 2-0 scoreline at the break.

The Stags led through Tyrese Sinclair after 12 minutes, and George Lapslie doubled their advantage in the 38th. But Sinclair could have had a hat-trick in a lively first half, while Clough's men missed a host of other chances, with Latics having difficulty getting out of their own half.

Dearnley, who last played in mid-January, has been persistent in his comeback trail after an injury-ravaged campaign. And his persistence paid off on the pitch as he chased down a long ball foward. Ryan Sweeney got himself in between the striker and the ball in an attempt to either usher it out of play or back to goalkeeper Aidan Stone. But Dearnley continued to apply pressure to force the Stags' pair into an awful mix-up and the returning Latics striker thumped the ball into an empty net.

It was his last kick as he was replaced by Davis Keillor-Dunn as one half of a double substitution which also saw Dylan Bahamboula come off the bench for Conor McAleny.

And Bahamboula looked to make an impact after his introduction.

But Mansfield restored their two-goal advantage when Lapslie got his second with 10 minutes to go and then Jamie Reid completed a miserable afternoon for lacklustre Latics.

"There's a softness about the group that needs to change," said Curle.

"I think I pride myself in being honest, up front, transparent as a representative of the football club and so with that comes the necessity to be honest and that group of players in there, as a collective, need a lot of work doing to go on a journey to where this football club has aspirations to go.

"I know what needs to be done and I'm not afraid of change. I've been to a lot of football clubs and improved every single one of them that I've been at. But to do it certain things need to change.

"There's lots at this football club that don't need changing. There's a lot of things within the structure of the football club that are very very good, but there's certain things that do need to change.

"I'm not scared of change - doing something different to get different results - otherwise if you keep doing the same things and you expect different results, that's a sign of lunacy isn't it?

"I don't think there's one player in there that can say they've consistently put in performances that guarantee them a place in that team.

"There are no leaders in that changing room. There isn't. There are a few that have a little moan and a little niggle, but that's not a leader.

"A leader is someone who shows good direction and they make people follow them. If people start going off in a different direction they drag them back and say 'no, we're going this way'.

"There are no leaders in that changing room. We've got people who can shout louder than some other players but their actions, they're not leaders."

He added: "I feel let down, I feel disappointed because players didn't put in the hard yards. Talk a great game, but didn't perform."