Johnson relief as Oldham win

Oldham boss Lee Johnson hailed a vital win as his side's mid-winter slump ended with a 2-0 win at Fleetwood.

Second-half goals from Carl Winchester and Mike Jones were enough to stop the rot against a below-par Fleetwood side. Johnson said: "It's a massive win for us. "As as manager and I'm sure the players feel the same, you never feel right until you've won again. "It was such a relief to see that game out and get the three points on the board. "I said before the game I wanted to gift the fans an important win. We're well satisfied." Oldham made the most of difficult conditions, a swirling wind and sleet testing both sides. Chances were at a premium in a first half stalemate where Oldham dominated possession and Fleetwood created the better openings. It was the home side who came closest to opening the scoring with a fine move down the left hand side three minutes before the break. Jamie Proctor held off his man and span the ball off to Josh Morris and his shot cleared off the line by George Elokobi before Gareth Evans' shot on the rebound was superbly tuned away by Paul Rachubka. Fleetwood could no't keep up the pressure and a slow start to the second half was just the invitation Oldham needed to snatch the lead. Danny Philliskirk had already gone close, forcing a save from Chris Maxwell, when Winchester drove in from the left hand side. Unchallenged, Philliskirk lined up a curling shot, his superb finish leaving Maxwell with no chance. Oldham made it two just after the hour-mark after Dominic Poleon had taken a tumble on the edge of the Fleetwood box and Mike Jones stepped up to fire a superbly-placed free-kick past the wall and into the net. Fleetwood did attempt to haul themselves back into it as development squad player Nick Haughton had a superb low shot cleared off the line. But there was no way back for the home side, who are now without a win in front of their own fans since November. Johnson was delighted with his side's dominance after the break. He said: "It was a very good away performance. "We've been unlucky in the last two, played well and not got points and we deserved to win this one. "We noticed it was a swirling wind it kept changing and we needed to capitalise. "We needed more play down the left, we needed them to come alive. "We had a couple of shots, their keeper made a couple of good saves and we were dangerous. "After we got the goals we snuffed the game out. It was pleasing to see." Fleetwood boss Graham Alexander admitted his side were out of sorts and blew a chance to close in on the play-offs. He said: "The feeling now is frustration, not anger. "We put ourselves in a great position, albeit with a long way to go. "At very least we want to be in the top half, in or around the pack. "This is a step back for us, it's a disappointing day. "The lads have to realise we have to compete at a certain level week in, week out." Alexander admitted the two goals Fleetwood conceded were poor. He said: "We wanted a positive result. "If we'd have taken our chances in the first half we'd have been on the way to achieving that. "We conceded, from our point or view, two poor goals and missed another couple of chances in the second half. "Maybe we lacked a bit of intensity, were just a little under-par. "We set the bar high for the players and if they come below that what we've got to try to do is make sure we come out of the game with a point. "Unfortunately we gave the lad far too much room for the first, we've given away a poor set-piece. "We did enough in our play to score. "We didn't and we've given two poor goals away."