Seeing Oldham Athletic in the hat for the FA Cup first round proper delights manager Micky Mellon.

But while he was pleased overall - particularly with going into the break 4-1 up against National League rivals Halifax Town - the Scot was frustrated that his players could not match that dominance in the second half.

And, despite a 4-2 win to put them in the hat for the first round draw on Monday night, the Latics boss admitted there were elements that would require attention next week, in the run-up to back-to-back away games at Sutton and Maidenhead.

"First half excellent, second half we made hard work of it," was Mellon's assessment of this FA Cup fourth round qualifier.

"We didn't defend as well as I would like us to. I don't know why, we spoke at half-time and said 'keep going'.

"Maybe when you're 4-1 up you kind of don't just quite get after it. I don't know.

"It's another result and a good result, but if we're talking about it as a team we have to defend better as a unit, but we'll work on that next week. The important thing is we're scoring goals.

"In the first half we blew Halifax away, but second half they came right after it, loads of players running forward and they made it difficult for us. We have to defend better than that if we're being picky about the game in isolation. But in terms of a result I'm delighted for the football club that we're in the first round now.

"My responsibility as a manager is to try to give the supporters those days, so I'm pleased with the result and delighted to be through."