Latics v Grimsby Town: This. Is. It.

Latics require 1.8333 points per game from their remaining 12 fixtures to reach 71 points which, historically, is the average number of points needed to secure the final League Two play-off berth. As always, relying on stats to ascertain the truth of any given football situation is like divining the mechanics of the universe by looking at the night sky through a drinking straw.

When Latics drew 0-0 with Grimsby at Blundell Park on Boxing day, both sides were mid-table and hoping to stay that way, perhaps eyeing up a play-off charge from deep below. Now, Grimsby are in seventh place, and Latics have realistic hopes of displacing them and the six other sides between them.

Those hopes have been generated from nothing by Micky Mellon who, after three bruising defeats in a row and with safety all but guaranteed, gave his players definition and purpose.

The hopes have been given serious life by Jack Stevens and Kane Drummond who, as fans will claim they always knew, have given the Latics front four a very dangerous look – Stevens is Latics’ cleanest striker of the ball, and Drummond is almost always the fastest player on the pitch. He can move in other ways too, as anyone who saw him dancing to Latics fans’ rendition of Tequila by The Champs at Prenton Park on Saturday will tell you.

The hopes have been animated by the latest resurgence of Mike Fondop, February’s League Two player of the month. People write Fondop off all the time. “Not good enough for this level,” they say. Each time he replies by bullying and otherwise troubling defences, by getting important goals and by rising to the occasion. He needs one more goal for his half century for Latics, the first to hit the mark since Andy Ritchie.

Latics fans’ dreams are coming true because of a solid XI in defence, the team moving up and down the pitch as one. When the protection fails, opposition attackers find that they have Mat Hudson to beat. He’s Latics’ stand-out player of the season and is getting better.

Since Latics conceded nine goals in three successive games at the end of January and the beginning of February, they have conceded just two in six games, including a fixture away to league leaders Bromley. Donervon Daniels said that the players spoke among themselves and some of the coaching staff to put right what was going wrong. The fact that they discussed the details of the plane crashing into the mountain mano a mano and came out the other side playing better for one another with renewed focus speaks volumes about their maturity and morale.

Finally, the midfield is once again functioning on full power. It went soft for those three defeats but is now properly back in business. Tom Pett’s and Ryan Woods’s minutes need to be managed if Latics are to have a chance of going all the way, so it helps when the

team is a couple of goals to the good and Kai Payne, Oli Hammond and others can deputise for 30 minutes.

Micky Mellon styles himself as a methodical manager, a trust-the-process merchant. But process and method don’t get you from a bang average 1-1 draw against Tamworth in the National League this time last year to a League Two play-off six-pointer tomorrow.

Micky Mellon, method man, is also a worker of miracles, a man of profound romantic sentiment, a masterful author of magical stories and memories. Getting Latics into the play-offs this season would be up there with his finest work in football management. If he gets Latics promoted back to back, the Jimmy Frizzell Stand and the Joe Royle Stand will be but two parts of the Sir Micky Mellon Stadium.

Game. On.