Indeed Craney, part of a quintet that swamped Oldham in midfield as boss Stan Ternent went for 4-5-1 when Andy Booth (back) was ruled out again, should have shot Town ahead inside 30 seconds.

But Craney squandered that chance and two others later in the game as the visitors frittered away chances of victory.

Liam Dickinson ploughed a lone furrow up front but the young giant was always a handful for defenders who dished out some rough treatment in a second half which threatened to boil over at times.

Referee Kevin Friend doled out seven yellow cards and lectured Stan Ternent when Town's boss made known his feelings known about some of the official's decisions.

The Terriers dominated the first period with Jon Worthington, again wearing the captain's armband, producing a battling show in midfield.

Oldham hit back strongly after the interval but John Sheridan's men came up against a resilient Huddersfield defence with Andy Butler in particular throwing himself into the thick of the action as shot after shot was blocked to limit clear cut openings for Athletic.

The only serious error Town's rearguard made cost them victory. The wall reacted sloppily as Andy Liddell speared a fierce low drive into the corner when a free-kick, awarded for a wild challenge by Jim Goodwin that cost him a booking, was touched on by Mark Allott.

That came five minutes from full-time but by then the Latics could have been well beaten.

Craney sped clear in the first minute after good work by Worthington and Dickinson and was denied only by the legs of veteran keeper Mark Crossley.

And Craney ballooned a shot over he top before he put Town in front on 28 minutes. Dickinson's effort was charged down, but the ball fell for Craney who spun on the corner of the six-yard box to fire wide of Crossley.

Crossley rescued the Latics on 34 minutes when Craney latched on to Dickinson's flick-on only to see the stopper produce a finger-tip save. Winger Chris Taylor was always a threat to Town, as was Lee Hughes in the second half, but Ternent's men battled non-stop and were twice refused penalties when Dickinson was man handled.

Ternent said: "I'm delighted for the players. They did well, showed a good attitude against the best side in the division and can take a lot of heart from that.

"They stuck together as a team and there were some good individual performances.

"We have quality in the squad, yet there are improvements to be made.

"We can pass the ball better than we did today and we need to be more clinical in front of the target, for we created a lot of scoring opportunities."

Oldham: Crossley; Eardley, Hazell, Stam, Lomax; Liddell (Smalley 82), Allott, Whitaker, Taylor; Hughes, Allessandra (O'Grady 62). Subs not used: Fleming, Byrne, Davies.

Huddersfield: Glennon; Goodwin, Clarke, Butler, Skarz; Flynn, Worthington, Craney, Jevons, Roberts; Dickinson.