John Sheridan's Oldham Athletic cut Carlisle United's survival gap to five points after a big victory at the bottom of League Two.

The Latics won 1-0 at Scunthorpe United in the battle of the bottom two at the Sands Venue Stadium.

It took a chunk out of the Blues' safety cushion on a day the Cumbrians were ruled out of action because of a waterlogged pitch at Rochdale.

Oldham also still have a game in hand.

The vital goal came in the 85th minute at Glanford Park through Junior Luamba.

It saw Oldham make it four points from two games since Sheridan returned for a sixth spell in charge.

It will give the Boundary Park club hopes of staging a great escape.

Carlisle remain third bottom in the table, while Scunthorpe are rock bottom, eight points adrift of safety.

Elsewhere, Walsall's poor run continues as they fell to fourth bottom.

The Saddlers' 1-0 home defeat to Northampton Town left them two points above the Cumbrians, Mitch Pinnock inflicting a sixth straight defeat and piling extra pressure on Walsall boss Matt Taylor and his No2, the former Blues manager Neil McDonald.

Walsall are two points ahead of Carlisle.

Colchester United's improvement under interim boss Wayne Brown continued with a 1-0 win at Leyton Orient thanks to a Freddie Sears goal.

The fifth-bottom Us are three points above Carlisle in 20th.

Barrow came from behind to earn a 1-1 home draw with high-flying Tranmere, Ollie Banks' penalty wiping out Josh Hawkes' opener, leaving the south Cumbrians 19th, eight points above the bottom two.

Stevenage are 16th after coming from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at Crawley Town, with Arthur Read and Scott Cuthbert getting late goals after a Tom Nichols brace had put the home side in control.

Elsewhere in the division, Matty Stevens' double gave leaders Forest Green Rovers a 2-0 win over Newport, while Richie Bennett's Sutton United opener was cancelled out by an Antony Evans penalty as Bristol Rovers fought back to draw 1-1 with the third-placed side.

The day's early game saw Jack Diamond at the double for Harrogate Town in their 2-0 win over Bradford City.

Exeter City came from behind to win at Swindon, where Jevani Brown and Timothee Dieng overturned Joe Tomlinson's opener.

Salford City's home clash with Port Vale went the same way as Carlisle's game at Rochdale - postponed because of a waterlogged pitch.