Micky Mellon was delighted to get his Oldham Athletic career off to a winning start, and get the bragging rights in a tense derby at Rochdale.

Latics dominated the first half and led 1-0 at half-time through a Nathan Sheron drive, then doubled their advantage early in the second half through a Devarn Green header.

But Rochdale hit back to make it 2-2, with Jimmy Keohane grabbing both, before Hallam Hope and James Norwood restored Latics' two-goal cushion.

A hat-trick for Keohane reduced the deficit for the hosts again and made for a tense finale - particularly when referee James Westgate allocated 16 additional minutes following two lengthy stoppages for fan related incidents.

“What a derby!" said new Oldham boss Mellon.

"You expect the emotion and the madness in those sorts of games but credit to the players who have only met me on Monday who saw that one out.

"We can improve on things – conceding from set pieces and soon after we scored – but I hope the fans can go home happy.

“I don’t want to have to score four every week to win a game of football, hopefully we can deliver less heart attacks to our supporters, especially as we missed chances in the first half before the madness began."

He added: “There’s been a lot of change at the football club and that’s disruptive for the players and the fans, so we want to bring a bit of stability and organisation. I’ve never been involved in such a heated derby, with those 16 minutes added on at the end I couldn’t believe it.

"We believe in the players and those who started today were terrific. We’ll look at the three goals we conceded in time but tonight and tomorrow we can enjoy this one.”

The result stretched Latics' unbeaten run to eight games and put them above Rochdale in 10th, two points adrift of the play-offs.