Micky Mellon praised an "outstanding" performance from Latics, and described a point at home to champions elect Chesterfield as something to build on.

Oldham stunned the runaway leaders by being 2-0 up midway through the first half, with James Norwood marking his return to the line-up with the opening goal from the spot - after goalkeeper Harry Tyrer brought down Andrew Dallas - before Dan Gardner finished a brilliant move to double their lead in the 23rd minute.

But Latics were pegged back before the half-hour and, having missed early second half chances and been denied by the woodwork, found themselves level in the 62nd minute when Joe Quigley converted a penalty that had been awarded for a foul on goalscorer Bailey Hobson.

A point briefly put Latics back into the play-off positions, but they end the day in eighth place after Altrincham won at Boreham Wood.

"I'm disappointed, frustrated, but honestly to be able to stand here and say that against the champions elect... at some point over the next couple of days I'll think we gave it a good go," said Mellon.

"I think the difference is when you go 2-0 up and those wee moments come, you really have to do that bit better in those wee moments. You can't give away the goals that we gave away when you're 2-0 up or miss the chances that we missed if you're going to beat the best team in the league.

"But those wee moments aside, because you've got to look at the performance as a whole, I thought we were great. I thought we played really well.

"I thought it's more of the type of Oldham team that we all want to see.

"Now the great challenge for us is to continually try to do that.

"It's as frustrating for me when I stand at the side and I see us playing like that, and other times we can't be consistent at times. But we know what we're capable of."

Melon added: "We went toe-to-toe with Chesterfield today, make no mistake about that. Nobody can leave this ground and say we didn't go toe-to-toe with them. We went every inch, all the way, and might have nicked it at the end.

"I'm pleased we went toe-to-toe, disappointed we've gone 2-0 up and those wee moments. But maybe they're the things we've got to work on. That's where we're at now, it's about improving those wee moments, making us better in those wee moments, make sure we shut the game down at two and we don't make some of the decisions that we made to give those goals away. Maybe that's where we're at now, which is good because it certainly wasn't like that when we first came.

"Hopefully we can build on that now and we can continue to keep getting results to the end of the season."