Encouraging Oldham Athletic to make their next performance better than their last is a mentality that assistant manager Gary Brabin hopes will continue to prove successful.

Latics romped to a 4-0 win over Tamworth, with Josh Kay coming off the bench to score his first goal for the club after James Norwood hit a first-half hat-trick.

A third clean sheet in a row in the National League also highlighted their defensive diligence.

But Brabin said he and manager Micky Mellon, and the rest of the backroom team, keep raising the bar.

"We performed well and we're delighted with the performance and the result, but we're always striving to be the best version of ourselves," said Latics' number two.

"There are little things we'd like to get better at but I think as a whole we defended well as a team, created a lot of chances and should have scored more goals really.

Manny Monthe celebrates against TamworthManny Monthe celebrates against Tamworth (Image: Phill Smith)

"It's not that we're never happy, but we're always wanting more. We scored three goals in the first half and we were looking for a complete performance not just from individuals but as a team. We wanted perfection really."

The result moved Latics up to fourth in the table, six points adrift of new leaders Forest Green Rovers, who knocked York City off top spot with a 2-0 home win in the late kick-off.

"We just don't want to rest on it," said Brabin.

"We're always striving for better, we're always trying to push the players to be the best version of themselves. Today was a really good performance and one that we remind them we want to keep getting better and hopefully take that into next week.

"Everyone knows their roles and what's expected of them.

"There's good, healthy competition for places all over the park, we're able to make substitutions. There were a couple of harsh bookings I thought for a couple of our players so we made substitutions just to make sure there was nothing silly happening in the game. We made those decisions and people came on and did really well."

Charlie Raglan missed the game through injury and Brabin said it's a situation they are monitoring ahead of Saturday's derby at Rochdale.

"Charlie's had a bit of a niggle, felt a bit of a strain on Thursday," Brabin explained.

"We definitely didn't want to risk him today and we'll have a bit more information over the coming days to see how that will be."