Oldham Steal Xmas – and All The Points.
Oldham Athletic have a markedly different history to the club they visited for a League Two fixture in the shape of Morecambe today. Since 1994, the Latics have had over thirty managers after Graeme Sharp took over from Joe Royle in November of that year. In the last eighteen months alone, Oldham have had men six different men (one of them twice) in charge of the team. Since the glory days of Joe Royle, the club has gradually slipped from the pinnacle of English football in the old First Division to where they are today. Morecambe, on the other hand, have had just four managers since 1994 and throughout its almost one hundred year history, the club has never been relegated from any league they have been a member of. Not yet anyway…
So teams with a markedly different history met for the Boxing Day fixture at the Globe Arena today. Latics have lost just one of their last five League Two matches and drawn two and obviously won two of the others, most recently at home against Crawley last Saturday. Then, they overcame a 0-1 deficit at half time to win 2-1: exactly what Morecambe were doing against Newport County at the same time. Their Manager, Dino Maamria – sacked by Stevenage earlier this season – was appointed last September. In his first game in charge, the Latics easily beat today’s hosts 3-1 at Boundary Parade with ex-Shrimp Zak Mills the outstanding player for Athletic. The clubs have only met four times in the past with a win for Morecambe in the FA Trophy. In the EFL, they have drawn a single match, won one and lost one. Since their victory over Jim Bentley’s side three months ago, Oldham’s form has been unpredictable. They have drawn a lot of games but also contrived to lose at home to Macclesfield and been thrashed 6-1 away by Mansfield. So today – with Oldham being just five points ahead of the Shrimps – there was a chance for Derek Adams’ men to reduce the deficit to just two points and drag the Latics into the relegation mix at the same time. On the other hand, Athletic could add a further healthy three points to the game in hand they have over today’s opponents with a win which would also edge them away from the danger zone.
It was drizzly and cold by the side of the Irish Sea as the game kicked-off. Morecambe lined-up with exactly the same line-up which served them so well in the second half a few days ago against Newport. The visitors obviously won the toss and decided to change ends so they were playing towards the noisy ranks of their own supporters during the first period. And for the whole of the opening half, they looked just as good as they had against the Exiles on Saturday. Oldham were second to the ball; on the back foot and offered virtually no threat throughout the 45 minutes. With a name like Zeus, you would expect the visitor’s goalkeeper to be no less than infallible and he did well to punch a cross from the danger area after nine minutes as the Shrimps pressed. The impressive Carlos Mendes-Gomes took an instant shot after making room for himself with twenty minutes played but the ball went just over the bar. Morecambe came even closer three minutes later when Luke Conlan’s free-kick from a central position slammed against the Oldham bar with de la Paz a mere spectator. The massed ranks of Oldham fans – noisy in the opening minutes – had fallen completely silent. But it all went wrong for the home team after half an hour. Mark Halstead had already made a decent save from Jonny Smith low down after a quarter of an hour. This time, Filip Morais took a shot which should have been a more or less regulation save for the Morecambe goalkeeper. But Halstead allowed the wet ball to bounce off his chest as he dived to grab it and Desire Segbe Azankpo accepted a belated Christmas present with aplomb to put the visitors into a lead which their play to date barely merited. They came more into the game after the goal but the hosts were still the dominant force right until the break, when they went back to the Dressing Rooms on the wrong side of a one-nil scoreline.
It took Morecambe just over a minute to equalise once the second period began. They attacked down their left wing and the ball was worked across the penalty area to an unmarked Carlos, who swept it home as he closed in from the Morecambe right. So that was it. On the balance of play so far, the Shrimps would now go on to certain victory. Wouldn’t they?
But Dino Maamria and his men clearly hadn’t read the script. He must have told them at half time to come out of their collective shells and play on the front foot: and they did. They totally turned the tables on their hosts, who virtually never had a look-in from the moment they equalised until the end of the game. Azankpo was a handful throughout the game and substitute Scott Wilson also caught the eye as the Latics took the match by the scruff of the neck. They came close to going ahead again after an hour when Alex Kenyon worked wonders to deflect the ball over his own bar when almost standing on the goal-line and facing backwards: on another day, it would have gone in. At the other end, though, Cole Stockton wasted a golden opportunity to put the Shrimps ahead when he inexplicably missed the target altogether when it seemed easier to score against a stranded de la Paz with sixty-seven minutes played. Wilson slalomed his way right through the Morecambe defence with seventy minutes on the clock but his shot hit the post and went away for a goal kick when it seemed certain that he was going to score. But team-mate Mohamed Sylla won all three points for the visitors when he finally booted the ball home after pinball in the Morecambe penalty area with seventy-five minutes played. Athletic could have gone even further ahead when Smith’s effort from the Oldham right dipped wickedly over Halstead only to crash against the bar with ten minutes or so left. But that was the end of the scoring and Oldham headed back south with their first double of the season – and deservedly so.
The loss meant that the gap between Morecambe and nearest rivals Stevenage (who drew 0-0 at home against Forest Green today) shrunk to a single point. But Borough are still bottom of the EFL. Elsewhere, Macclesfield also drew at home, 1-1 with Grimsby. They thus found themselves a position above the Shrimps in twenty-second spot in League Two and a single point ahead.
One final thought. I often moan about the inadequacy of many referees in League Two on these pages. Credit where credit is due though: I thought Man In The Middle Anthony Backhouse was outstanding today. Fair Play to him.
Morecambe: 21 Mark Halstead; 27 George Tanner; 5 Steven Old; 4 Alex Kenyon (C); 14 Tom Brewitt (12 Ritchie Sutton 85’); 7 John O’Sullivan; 19 Carlos Mendes-Gomes (24 Shaun Miller 81’); 10 A-Jay Leitch-Smith; 11 Kevin Ellison; 9 Cole Stockton.
Subs not used: 28 Andre Filipe Da Silva Mendes; 8 Lewis Alessandra; 15 Aaron Wildig; 23 Tyler Brownsword; 33 Jordan Cranston.
Oldham Athletic: 20 Zeus de la Paz; 2 Zak Mills; 24 Tom Hamer; 31 David Wheater (C); 3 Alex Iacovitti; 26 Jonny Smith; 25 Chris McCann (Y); 24 Mohamed Sylla; 19 Desire Segbe Azankpo (29 Tomas Egert 88’); 8 Filipe Morais (16 Scott Wilson 69’); 10 Mohamed Maouche (33 Chris Eagles 80’).
Subs not used: 1 Gary Woods; 18 Dylan Fage; 28 Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro; 53 Zac Emmerson.
Ref: Anthony Backhouse.
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