OLDHAM head coach Harry Kewell has called for his side to ‘stick together’ despite early-season results.

Latics recorded a second consecutive defeat in all competitions on Tuesday night as a 1-0 loss to Morecambe saw them knocked out in the second round of the Carabao Cup.

But as they return to league action to face Stevenage at the Lamex Stadium on Saturday, the Oldham boss believes that it will still take time for his players to reach their full potential.

“It’s always our goal to get a positive result and it’s always our goal to get a positive performance,” said the 41-year-old.

“We’re slowly achieving that but we need more, it’s a newly put together squad and it is going to take time for them to gel together.

“You’ve always got to motivate your players but eventually, you want that motivation to come from within the squad.

“What we’ve all got to understand is that this is something new not only for the team but for Oldham itself, so we’ve got to stick together and get these results.”

One issue Kewell has found, however, is the lack of goals despite the number of chances created in each game.

Latics managed a total of 15 shots during Tuesday’s defeat but managed to get just two of them on target, and the Australian says this is something that he is desperate for his side to improve on.

“We’ve created chances but our final delivery or shot hasn’t been as clinical but that’s something that you work on,” he added.

“Strikers will be disappointed because they haven’t scored in the last two games.

“It happens, but the one thing that I’m happy about is that we are creating the chances, we just need to concentrate on that final delivery and the goals will happen.

“You’ve got to be able to create the chances to score the goals and when you do create you’ve got to be clinical.”