Oldham 1-1 Dagenham: Post-match thoughts on the North West side.

It’s exciting times for Oldham Athletic on the pitch even if things haven’t been going their way off it. The Latics have climbed six league places into the play-off places in the past month and manager Paul Dickov is extremely pleased with his young side.

Despite disappointment in the week with the news that their plans for a new stadium have been turned down the team are playing some of their best football and only their momentary lapses in concentration seem to be keeping them at the lower end of the play off places rather than the top.

Dickov has praised his players’ mental strength in recent weeks yet it seems like they just can’t catch a break; every tiny mistake is being punished in the most telling ways. They largely dominated the game against bottom of the league Dagenham and Redbridge yet failed to convert that domination into three points. A combination of a fine goalkeeping performance by Dagger’s ‘keeper Tony Roberts and Oldham’s own lack of concentration saw them concede the equaliser that they wouldn’t overcome.

Man of the match and Oldham player of the month, Chris Taylor set up joint top goal scorer Dale Stephens to open up the scoring for the home side soon after the restart. Taylor looked to come inside onto his right foot and shoot but instead laid the ball off to his oncoming team mate to side foot it into the Dagenham net.

This gave The Latics some good momentum but they were denied by Roberts on several occasions. Dickov admitted that Taylor was central to their success and the second half didn’t go as well as he’d hoped. “We were a big threat today when we got Taylor on the ball.”

“Their goalkeeper has made three or four really good saves – any of them go in and it’s a different game. They came here, defended doggedly, set their shape up to frustrate us and did that for long periods of the game,” said the Scot.

The equaliser came from a throw in – a blink and you miss it moment. Manchester United goalkeeper, Ben Amos fails to clear the ball and allows Dagger’s top scorer Romain Vincelot to head in the goal.

Oldham have held on to their star players in the transfer window, extended loan contracts and made some new signings and the manager is delighted with his young, exciting side. Chris Taylor is coming into his own in the midfield; Dale Stephens is rivalling him for the top scorer’s position. Dominating the left hand side whether it’s at full back or midfield is Arsenal player Cedric Evina who is mastering his trade in the North West.

“We had enough chances to win two games today. We’re disappointed with the goal we conceded but we’ve got to be more ruthless at the other end.”

“We’re all disappointed and it feels like a loss yet again but we have to take the positives out of it. We feel that we’re a good team and we’re delighted about where we are.”

That was the note that Dickov signed off on, afterwards making a comment about not making any “fucking excuses” and then apologising to me for his bad language… Paul Dickov being polite and respectful to journalists?? - It has certainly been a weekend of shocks in the football world!

Oldham 2-0 Swindon

Chris Taylor’s early strike set Oldham Athletic off to a flying start as they ended their run of four matches without a win against a lacklustre Swindon Town. A dangerous cross by Morais was headed away only as far as Taylor who, with far too much space, curled the ball into the right hand corner from just inside the box.

Paul Dickov was full of praise for the forward, "Chris' all round game today was fantastic. He was threatening when he had the ball and we all know he's got quality when he gets the chance."

Dale Stephens sealed victory for the home side with a late penalty, after a frustrated Charlie Austin was judged to have handled in the box. Stephens confidently smashed home a penalty as Oldham laid their recent demons to rest.

Swindon striker and top scorer, Charlie Austin had a frustrating game and Dickov praised his centre-backs for their performance.

"Both centre-backs were excellent. Charlie Austin is one of the best strikers in this division and I thought both of them were fantastic, as all of my team were."

"I’m delighted with all the boys. Too many times we've talked about individual errors but there was none from any of my players today."

With the inclusion of new arrival goalkeeper Ben Amos, on loan from Manchester United goalkeeper, Dickov has a strong set of players fighting for positions.

"Ben is a great 'keeper, it's going to be a competitive spot for the goalkeeper now. Ben gives us, as a back four, the chance to do well this year", said Oldham full-back Paul Black.

Black reclaimed his place in the squad after being left out on Monday against Rochdale.

"In most positions there's a competition and there's a great togetherness. Even after two defeats no one's head went down."

"I was disappointed to be left out; hopefully I can stay in the team now and get a few more results, starting on Tuesday in a tough match against Southampton."

In what was an evenly contested match the Swindon manager, Danny Wilson, felt his team were unlucky to leave without a point but conceded that they were the makers of their own misfortune.

"All of our great performances have been followed up by an average one and that was exactly the same again today."

Swindon had the chance to equalize in the 85^th minute when Michael Rose’s 25-yard free kick rattled off the post. Sometimes when things aren’t going your way you don’t get a break and this was the case for Swindon today.

"Playing two back to back games seems to be our problem at the moment. We don’t get out of the blocks; we’re slow in our passing, our tempo, our accuracy. "

The win takes Oldham takes up to 9^th in the League although Black insists that there is no talk of promotion in the dressing room just yet.

"We're just taking each game as it comes and we want to win every match. We bounced back today and hopefully we can go on a bit of a run again now."

Teams:

Oldham Athletic (4-4-2): B. Amos, R. Hazell, D. Furman, C. Taylor, K. Lee, D. Stephens, P. Black, F. Morais (R. Brooke 90), C. Evina (K. Millar 76), O. Tounkara, N. Trotman.

Substitutes not used: R. Jones, J. Jarrett, W. Feeney, D. Brill, A. Holdsworth.

Booked: Lee, Furman.

Goals: Taylor 4, Stephens (pen) 88.

Swindon Town (4-5-1): P. Smith, M. Rose, A. Frampton (Cuthbert 63), P. Caddis, S. Ferry, D. Prutton, M. Timlin (J. Douglas 57), S. Morrison, A. O’Brien (D. Ball 57), M. Ritchie, C. Austin.

Substitutes not used: J-P. McGovern,V. Pericard,T. Dossevi, M. Scott.

Booked: Austin, Douglas.
 

Referee: D. Drysdale.
 

Attendance: 3, 573

Oldham 1-2 Rochdale: Match Report

Chris O’Grady’s brace against his old club was enough to claim victory for Rochdale in an entertaining local derby. Despite the Latics looking like the hungrier of the two teams, the 'Dale defence was solid and the visitors kept the home side at bay until they went down to ten men.

Oldham captain Reuben Hazell was at fault for both of the goals after fouling Craig Dawson in the box and conceding a penalty. ‘Dale top scorer Gary Jones stepped up to take the spot kick and hit the post but was thankful when Chris O’Grady hit home the rebound. Ten minutes later Hazell played an awful back-pass which O’Grady pounced on and doubled their lead.

The game looked to be out of Oldham’s reach until Scott Wiseman found himself seeing red for a seemingly innocuous foul on Cedric Evina. Furman volleyed one back from 15 yards but the home side were unable to find the equaliser in the dying minutes despite piling immense pressure on their rivals.

The referee had an astonishingly bad game and unfortunately most of the media attention has been focused on his performance rather than the exciting encounter between the sides. Paul Dickov was left frustrated by the decisions he made and ‘Dale manager, Keith Hill, agreed it was “a little bit of a farce”. The red card was so baffling that the Oldham fans began chanting choruses of “You don’t know what you’re doing” towards the man in black with Paul Dickov focusing on this point afterwards and agreeing that the referee had a poor game.

Oldham, as well as the defeat, now have to wait on the medical news concerning centre-back Jean-Yves Mvoto after he was stretchered off. The manager is hoping it won’t be too serious but admits that the player has taken a “bad whack” to his ankle. 

Dickov said “I’m disappointed, but delighted with the boys. I feel we were the better team today from start to finish.”

“Full of character we are, if we keep playing like that we’ll go up this league”, he added.

It was a tight encounter and one Rochdale were lucky to leave with all three points rather than just the one as Oldham pressed very hard for an equaliser after reducing the goal deficit by half after Wiseman’s dismissal.

“It was a bit nervy at the end. I thought we were really good defensively”, said Dale manager, Keith Hill. The manager praised the team’s resoluteness and is pleased with the fact that ‘Dale have notched up 6 points from their two games of the new year.

Rochdale move up to 16^th in the league just one point behind Oldham who sit in 12^th.

Teams:

Oldham: Brill, Mvoto (Trotman 20), Hazell, Furman, Taylor (Millar 83), Lee, Stephens, Morais, Evina, Tounkara, White (Brook 78). Subs not used: Fleming, Black, Kelly, Feeney.

Goals: Furman 87

Rochdale: Lillis, Wisemen, Widdowson, Holness, Dawson, Kennedy, Barry-Murphy (Done 61), Jones, Thompson (Adams 55), Grant (Akpa Akpro 83), O’Grady. Subs not used:  Edwards, T Kennedy, Thompson, Elding.

Goals: O' Grady 64, 76