OLDHAM Athletic have it all to play for, but nothing to fear - that's the message from head coach John Sheridan.

Latics have arguably the toughest run-in of their two main rivals battling to avoid the second relegation place.

With Scunthorpe all but mathematically down, the fight for survival realistically boils down to Stevenage, Barrow and Oldham - who all go into the Easter weekend level on 37 points, with Latics having played a game more.

Sheridan's side face four teams pushing for either automatic promotion or the play-offs in their remaining five games, starting with tomorrow's Good Friday visit of fifth place Northampton ahead of the Easter Monday trip to current leaders and title hopefuls Forest Green Rovers.

But it is a situation the head coach would rather be in rather than facing a team with nothing to play for, and he is reminding his players how well they have dealt with the better teams this season.

"If you look at them on paper we have got a hard run-in, but I think we've competed really well against the teams at the top," he said.

"If you look at Bristol and Mansfield, Orient were in form when we played them and Bradford. Exeter I felt we should have got something out of the game, Port Vale last week. We know we can compete with them on our day. As long as we're on the front foot and trying to win games we've got a good chance.

"But I've got to respect them because they're going well in the league."

Sheridan added: "I know there's four out of the top nine but we've competed against teams in and around the top area and competed well against them.

"I actually think they're the better games. I'd probably want to go into those games instead of playing someone in the middle of the table when you don't really know what to expect. I know Northampton are going to come and try to win the game, I know Forest Green are going to try to win the game, because they're playing for something massive, which is automatic promotion, Tranmere and Salford even for the play-offs. They're going to be tough games and we've got to be on our guard and ready for each game."

Latics recovered from a six-game losing streak with back-to-back wins over Leyton Orient and Stevenage.

Momentum was curtailed by a 3-2 defeat at Port Vale, in which they twice came back from behind to go in level at the break.

And Sheridan insists the positives of that performance outweigh any negatives about the result.

"I think so. I think the players feel that, I feel that, I think the supporters did. Other than the first 10-15 minutes where I thought we started very slowly and enabled them to get a grip of the game, too many corners early on and chances at goal, but after that I thought we were the better team. And I think there are lot of good things from the game," he continued.

"But I said to the lads after the game that performance will win you games and in the remaining five if you perform like that you've got a chance of winning some."