Jordan Clarke is ready to play through the pain barrier as Latics look to get back on track at Halifax Town tomorrow.

The right back had to go to hospital on Tuesday night when he suffered a clash of heads as he competed for a header that hit the bar, leaving him with a nasty eye wound underneath his right eyebrow in the 1-0 defeat at Altrincham.

Clarke has a badly bruised and swollen eye, but after having the wound glued, rather than stitched, manager David Unsworth is expecting to have the 30-year-old available for selection for an important game against a side that sits a point and a place below them in the National League table.

Midfielder Oscar Threlkeld is a doubt after limping off five minutes into the second half of Tuesday night’s defeat at Altrincham.

And although Hallam Hope is progressing well in training, he requires another week to get up to speed before being available for selection, so it could be the FA Cup first round clash at Wrexham at the earliest before the striker is able to make his comeback.

In the meantime, Unsworth is maintaining his search to strengthen a squad that remains heavily depleted by injuries, with midfielder Dan Gardner sidelined with a calf injury, defenders Harrison McGahey, Mitchell Roberts and James Carragher sidelined and captain Liam Hogan yet to make his long-awaited return from the broken foot he suffered in August.

Unsworth admits there are psychological hurdles to overcome too.

"I know the supporters pay their money but they must know and see that this is not going to change overnight, and in a way some of these players can't play under that pressure,” he said.

"Some of these players can't play under the pressure of 1,600 fans away from home, the expectation of playing for Oldham, of what used to be. We're not that team anymore, we're not that club anymore. The fans are still there but you're only as good as your team and our team at the moment is where it is, and I know that, I'm dead honest with my assessments of performance after games.

“These players are working as hard as they can, I just don't think they know how to win consistently.

"If their life depended on it at Oldham at Boundary Park I'm sure we'd win the game, but away from home, when they think they tired... The last thing I said to them at half-time (on Tuesday) was 'you're kicking into 1,600 Oldham supporters, every time you go over the halfway line they're going to be there, with you. It fell on deaf ears, and that's disappointing.”