Delighted Oldham boss Keith Curle saluted a dramatic 3-2 win against high-flying Port Vale which he hopes will serve to help “change mentalities” at the club.

Aaron Martin’s own goal deep into stoppage time handed struggling Oldham only their second home win of the season after they came from 2-1 behind in stunning fashion.

The three points lifted the hosts out of the drop zone.

Curle said: “This was a great win for us, and wins can change mentalities and mindsets.

“There’s been some tough times here this season, but that’s when the tough get going.

“The players in the changing room know that it hasn’t been good enough, but there is definitely plenty of fight in there.

“It has been a difficult period, but I’ve been here before as a manager and so I know what’s required.

“I’ve said before that we need to change the mentality here, but definitely the players have done their bit today.

“The atmosphere created by the fans was amazing too.

“We all know what’s been going on behind the scenes here this season, but the fans responded brilliantly today and that win is for them as well.

“I’m here to improve this group, and improve the environment here, and I’ll continue to back myself to do that.

“This a massive win and one we need to take confidence from going into Tuesday now.”

It was an entertaining first half at Boundary Park, with ex-Oldham man David Worrall firing Vale into a 20th-minute lead.

The hosts evened it up just after the half-hour mark when Davis Keillor-Dunn nodded home his sixth goal of the season.

Vale went back in front shortly after the restart through James Gibbons, before skipper Tom Conlon thumped the post.

However, Oldham turned the game on its head late on thanks to Sam Hart’s 81st-minute strike and Martin’s own goal in added time.

Vale boss Darrell Clarke said: “I’m really hurting for our 2,000 fans who travelled today.

“We’ve dominated this game, but in the end we’ve not defended our box properly and we’ve been punished badly.

“I’m frustrated and annoyed, but that’s football sometimes and these things do happen.

“We’ve got to be better at our defending, but that’s something we’ll look at this week and work on it.

“We dominated chances and possession throughout the game, but we’ve simply not defended well enough.

“There were a lot of good things out there before Oldham equalised, but I suppose it doesn’t really feel that way right now.

“To be honest I would have been raging if we’d just taken a point from this game, but to have come away with nothing at all is so frustrating.

“We can’t be conceding goals like that and expect to keep our position in the table.”