KEITH Curle has challenged Latics to back up Saturday’s back-from-behind win against Port Vale when his team travel to his former club, Northampton Town, tonight.

Oldham have not yet put back-to-back league wins together this season.

But having overcome second placed Port Vale in dramatic fashion to secure only their second home league win of the campaign and climb out of the bottom two, Curle is now looking for momentum to put even more distance between them and the drop zone against a Cobblers side that sit fifth but are without a win in five in all competitions.

“Wins change mentalities and change mindsets. Every player is in this profession to win games. We’ve got a changing room there that know that we haven’t been good enough, know that things haven’t gone our way but now it’s like putting a line in the sand and saying ‘go on then, now we’re here, now can we compete?’,” said Latics’ head coach.

“Behind the scenes I know the situation of the football club, but there’s a united front from within. Small in numbers, as in staff wise, but good belief and good honesty about what we’re trying to do.

“We accept that at times we haven’t been good enough, and the players have been told that. There’s an honesty about the group that they accept the criticism that comes their way.

“Likewise (on Saturday) this has got to be all about the players because they needed to turn up, and when things went against them, going a goal down and 2-1 behind, they never wavered. And you need that.

“When you’re in a fight and in a scrap to get this football club going in the right direction those are the credentials that you need.

“Now we need the game momentum. Now we need another win. Now we need back to back wins.”

And while there were scenes of celebration given the manner of Saturday’s victory, Curle is not getting carried away.

“The type of person I am, when we win a game I don’t think that I’ve cracked it. I don’t think that’s the end result,” he added.

“Likewise if we get a negative result I don’t think it’s the end of the world, because it’s football.

“I back myself, I back the people that I’ve got around me.

“I think the clearest thing is I know what we’ve got to do. I know where we’re at as a football club and there are a lot of decisions that need to be made and a lot of changes that need to be made. Sometimes there’s nothing wrong with change, but you’ve got to be changing for improvement.”