Johnson looking up

Lee Johnson tipped his Oldham side to build on a promising start to the season after they hit back for a 2-1 victory over Walsall.

The Latics are on a 10-match unbeaten run in all competitions and now stand on the edge of the League One play-off places. They fell behind when Jordan Cook slotted in from Andy Butler's long ball to open the scoring on 10 minutes. Johnson's side levelled just after the half-hour as Mike Jones set up Conor Wilkinson, who marked his last game on loan from Bolton with a deflected shot past keeper Richard O'Donnell. Oldham took control and went close through James Wilson, Carl Winchester and new loan signing Jabo Ibehre. The winner came after 75 minutes as Jones let fly with a superb 25-yard drive which crashed in off the bar. Johnson said: "There's a buzz here at the moment because we've got a team the fans can believe in. "We have spirit on and off the pitch, which we showed by coming from behind in a very difficult game against a good Walsall side. "There were times last season when we were maybe a bit powder-puff, but that's not the case now because we've got solid, experienced players on the bench. "Last year we were hanging our hat on six or seven good players, but now we've got 13 or 14. Everyone we've recruited can affect games in the first team. "We're on a good run, which shows we are doing the right thing. The players are taking instructions well, but we can't get carried away. "Maybe we are dark horses for the play-offs, but those fifth and sixth places are available to a lot of teams - maybe around 14 - and the minute you get complacent, you get found out." Walsall boss Dean Smith admitted his team were second best as they suffered their first defeat in five games. Smith said: "We made a good start and Jordan Cook took his goal well, but after that we stepped off for some reason. "That gave Oldham the opportunity to pass around us, and we didn't get our full-backs forward enough playing against their system. "I'm not just disappointed with the result, I'm disappointed with the performance and I'm sure the players are as well. "We had a really tough game on Tuesday and I was hoping the players coming back into the side would give us energy, but we missed a bit of spark. "We didn't get enough balls into the box or behind their defence, and too many of our players looked dull. "After Oldham scored their second we started to work it around better, but I can't say we deserved anything because Oldham were better than us."