OLDHAM were taught a lesson in clinical finishing by league leaders Swindon, but Latics boss Dino Maamria hailed one of his side’s best performances of the season despite the defeat.

Strikes from Kaiyne Woolery in time added on at the end of the first-half and Eoin Doyle late in the second-half were enough to see off Maamria’s men.

That means the Latics fell to their first defeat in League Two in their last six, but at the home of the table toppers the manager was sure his side had learned a great deal.

"The scoreline doesn't tell the full story of the game,” he said.

"We absolutely battered them between the two boxes, but they are top of the league because of their front three and they're so clinical.

"The finish for their first goal was unbelievable, we had much better chances than that and still didn't manage to score.

"Their clinical finishing in the attacking third was the difference, but apart from that, between the two boxes it was easily our best performance of the season.”

Maamria made two changes to the side held at home by Leyton Orient last weekend, with Mohammed Maouche and Desire Segbe Azankpo replacing Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro and Scott Wilson.

Oldham lined-up with five at the back in an attempt to thwart a Swindon team that had scored 35 goals in their 20 league games so far this season.

Maamria added: "We were very disappointed not to score two or three in the first-half but we know we're lacking goals and we need to find someone that can put the ball in the back of the net.

"As a team I thought we pressed them hard to stop them playing and dominated the ball.

"The first goal came at the wrong time with a couple of minutes to go in the first-half but we didn't change anything in the second-half and went again on the front foot.

"How Alex Iacovitti managed to miss the chance to make it 1-1 I don't know, but probably the biggest disappointment was how we gave them the second goal to make it a 2-0 game when there was still a good 10 minutes left to play."

Latics started the first-half brightly forcing three corners inside the first 10 minutes which came to nothing.

Jamie Stott forced the first save of note in the 23rd minute, with Steven Benda tipping his curling 30-yard effort over the bar.

Stott injured himself in the process of shooting and was replaced by Tomas Egert midway through the first-half.

Five minutes before half-time Jonny Smith's left-wing cross found its way to David Jones, whose goal-bound effort was blocked by Zeki Fryers.

Due to a couple of stoppages for injuries there were four minutes of time added onto the first-half.

In the first of these Swindon took the lead, somewhat against the run of play, Woolery bursting down the right-hand side and cutting into the box before firing an effort past Zeus De La Paz.

Egert's cameo appearance lasted only 25 minutes before he was replaced by Filipe Morais, which saw the Latics change shape to a more traditional 4-4-2 formation.

Oldham missed a golden chance to equalise just before the hour mark when Iacovitti somehow managed to poke Morais’ low right-wing cross wide from four yards.

David Wheater made a vital block on the goal-line from Woolery's half-volley in the 65th minute, after Michael Doughty's initial effort had also been blocked.

Doyle then saw an effort ruled out for offside in the 82nd minute, but wasn't to be denied his 19th goal of the season, firing in from the edge of the area two minutes later.

For long periods of the first half it was difficult to tell which side were top of the league and which were struggling towards the foot of the table.

However that will be of little comfort to Oldham fans after defeat saw them slip down to 22nd in the league table.

Swindon Town (4-4-2): Steven Benda 6; Paul Caddis 6, Mathieu Baudry 7, Zeki Fryers 6, Rob Hunt 5; Kaiyne Woolery 8, Anthony Grant 7, Michael Doughty 7 (Danny Rose 78, 5), Diallang Jaiyesimi 6 (Keshi Anderson 61 6); Eoin Doyle 7, Jerry Yates 6 (Lloyd Isgrove 90+2 N/A)

Substitutes not used: Tom Broadbent, Ellis Iandolo, Taylor Curran, Luke McCormick

Oldham Athletic (5-3-2): Zeus De La Paz 5; Zak Mills 5, Tom Hamer 6, David Wheater 6, Jamie Stott 6 (Tomas Egert 27, 4 (Filipe Morais 53, 6)), Alex Iacovitti 6; Chris McCann 5, Mohammed Maouche 6, David Jones 5 (Dylan Fage 65, 5); Jonny Smith 6, Desire Segbe Azankpo 5

Substitutes not used: Gary Woods, Scott Wilson, Mohamed Sylla, Chris Eagles 

Referee: David Rock

Attendance: 6,825