Oldham Athletic boss Paul Dickov demanded an instant improvement from his players after defeat in their opening pre-season friendly.

Former Latics youngsters Mike Pearson and Scott Spencer netted at Holker Street to give Barrow a 2-0 win against an Oldham side featuring seven trialists.

Adding injury to insult, Dickov also saw teenager David Mellor suffer a broken nose following an accidental clash of heads with Chris Taylor on the hour.

Nevertheless, he wants a better display when his side travel to Evo-Stik outfit Mossley on Tuesday night.

“I will demand more of the players on Tuesday because I wasn’t happy with our performance,” Dickov said.

“I don’t care if it’s pre-season; I want my team to play with a high tempo and pass the ball – something which we didn’t do.

“We mentioned before it was a fitness exercise but we wanted to see some quality which wasn’t there, but we’ll make sure it is in the next game.

“Result-wise, it doesn’t make a difference, but performance-wise, it does.

“We knew it was going to be difficult because first games are never easy but the good thing is finding out who’s up to it and who isn’t.”

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