KEITH Curle has challenged Oldham Athletic to channel their FA Cup spirit into their fight for League Two survival.

The cup competitions have been a tonic for Latics this season with dramatic penalty shootout wins over Tranmere Rovers and Accrington Stanley lifting the mood amid a poor start to the campaign, while they go into the Papa John’s Trophy game at Tranmere Rovers second in their group behind tomorrow’s opponents.

Now Oldham remain in the hat for the FA Cup second round draw after coming back from behind to draw 1-1 at League One Ipswich Town and earn a replay at Boundary Park.

But for Dylan Bahamboula’s missed second half penalty it could have been a greater upset against Paul Cook’s side, who have not won a home game in the FA Cup since 2009.

Curle was pleased and encouraged by his side’s performance in getting a result at Portman Road. And in a post-match huddle on the pitch he told his players to transfer the qualities which earned them an impressive draw into the bread and butter of their league campaign.

“That's got to be our standard every week,” said the head coach.

"I think we put in a performance that, as a football club, we can be very proud of.

"We had to make it a cup tie, which meant we had to respect the opposition but we had to have a game plan and we had to execute it.

"There was one (personnel) change but a few other changes within it - shape, formation, tactics, whatever you want to call it. We had to express ourselves and defenders had to defend, midfield players had to be brave and go and get on the ball and pick the right passes, and our attacking players had to be creative.

"One down side I'd say is we probably got a little bit excited when we needed that final ball to hurt them. We got in some good positions to open up a very good team.”

Of the post-match huddle with players and staff that was conducted in the centre circle, Curle added: “Sometimes things get said in the heat of the moment but in my opinion that was the right time to speak to them because the emotion of the game is still there, they're in the middle of the pitch, they've got all the surroundings and they've put in a performance that they can be proud of as individuals and you want to grasp that moment and say 'Look, you've set standards today, you've set standards about what we want to deliver. Remember it, enjoy it, soak it up and deliver it again.”