Ex-Oldham Athletic winger warns Stevenage to expect a tough test this weekend

Filipe Morais has warned Stevenage to be on guard from the very first minute at Oldham Athletic as this weekend’s opponents attack from the off.

Morais knows better than most what Latics boss Paul Dickov’s teams are like as for the past two seasons, before his switch to Boro, the Stevenage winger played under the former Manchester City and Arsenal striker at Boundary Park.

“Paul (pictured) has his mentality which he installs in his players that they go after teams,” Morais told the Comet.

“His side will never sit back against any team.

“We need to be ready for that as they’ll try to make it very difficult for us.

“Boundary Park is a big pitch. You saw against Sheffield Wednesday [in the Capital One Cup] that in the first half they came flying out of the traps and with [James] Wesolowski and Dean Furman in the middle they marshal the whole team and Robbie Simpson behind the striker is a very clever player

“They’ve got a lot of quality and they’re not to be underestimated.”

Morais, pictured right, left Boundary Park in the summer with Oldham, much like Stevenage, seeing a overhaul of their squad. The former Chelsea and Hibernian midfielder has moved south to be closer to his family, but says the ideas that Gary Smith is trying to instil into his new-look team was something that appealed to him.

And with Stevenage picking up four points from their opening two games of the season there are signs that Smith’s side has gelled quickly, especially after the team’s performance in their win over AFC Wimbledon in last week’s Capital One Cup found many admirers.

“It’s hard to get that every game, where it’s free-flowing football,” said Morais.

“We’d love to play like that every game but sometimes teams frustrate us like Carlisle did. They did a good job, but sometimes we need to change it up and do different things.

“That’s the way I want to play football, the way every player in this team wants to play football.

“I’m sure everyone who plays football wants to play that way. They don’t want to chase long balls down the channels, they don’t want to fight and scrap for every ball. You do that when you’re defending, not when you’re attacking.

“When you’re attacking you want the ball at your feet. That’s what the manager preaches and that’s what we all try to do.”