Martin Foyle’s first game in charge of Port Vale ended successfully after they boosted their play-off hopes with a 1-0 win against Oldham at Vale Park.
Foyle took over on Friday following Brian Horton’s departure the day before, and Stephen McPhee handed him all three points to get his tenure off to the perfect start.
In a keenly fought opening 20 minutes, it was Oldham who got the only clear sight of goal when a free-kick just outside the area was passed along to John Eyre, but his attempted drive was misjudged and flew just wide of Jonny Brain's right-hand post.
Mark Bridge-Wilkinson was first to test Latics keeper Les Pogliacomi in the 37th minute, but it was Adrian Littlejohn who had the Valiants’ best and only real chance two minutes later. He burst through three Oldham players down the centre but his shot was weak allowing Australian Pogliacomi to palm wide.
Vale wasted no time in going ahead after the break when the ball was played up towards Stephen Brooker. He missed out but a hashed clearance by Gareth Owen allowed McPhee to sneak through and knock the ball round the advancing keeper into his bottom-right corner of the net.
Unfortunately for Oldham it was only the Vale attack which improved in the second half, but they did nearly get an equaliser in the 64th minute when John Eyre’s cross from the right was met by Billy Paynter who misjudged his clearance and rattled the frame of the goal.
The home side could have wrapped up the win late on when Michael Cummins's header from 10 yards struck the bar, but one goal was enough to claim the points.
Delighted manager Martin Foyle said: "The boys have worked their socks off today and it is a personal thing for me that we got off to a good start.
“I really wanted to test the back four today and see if the midfield could repeat what we done on the training ground. We've got a tough run ahead of us and it will certainly be a test of character."