O.A.F.C. – Final Letter Falls Off For Scholes
They say that a week is a long time in Politics. It’s an even longer time in football sometimes…
This is the original intro I had written for tonight’s re-arranged game against Oldham Athletic when it was originally due to be played on Saturday 2nd February:
“Morecambe visited Boundary Park today to take-on an Oldham Athletic side which has enjoyed the ups and downs of footballing fortunes during the last few weeks. On the positive side, they pulled-off a shock 1-2 win in London against Premiership Fulham in the FA Cup last month having been behind earlier in the game. Since then, though, they have drawn their next League Two game and then lost the following two, including a defeat by relegation-threatened Macclesfield Town. They thus started today’s match in sixteenth position in the table. Last week, they were also knocked out of the FA Cup at Doncaster. So, since the sacking of Frankie Bunn at Christmas following a 6-0 mauling by Carlisle United, Athletic have not noticeably improved. However, under the previous regime, they won at the Globe Arena earlier in the season by two goals to nil in the only previous meeting between the two clubs. This week, they have tempted new loan signings away from Manchester United and West Ham respectively in the shape of strikers Zak Dearnley and Oladapo Afolayan. “
Since then, though, the seismic shock which has hit Oldham was last week when – in a blaze of media spotlights and popping flashbulbs – Paul Scholes was unveiled as the Latics’ latest Manager. I saw him interviewed on the telly at the time and I was really impressed both by what he said and by his attitude towards his new job at his home town club. He not only refused to be lured into whingeing about the fact that contemporaries Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard Jr have both started their managerial careers at much bigger clubs, he actually wished them both luck. He then said that if his time as boss at Boundary Park ended in failure, there would be only one person to blame: himself. Good for him.
“He is quite a calm guy,” Oldham skipper Peter Clarke told the media last week. “He doesn’t rant and rave but the players have been left in no doubt what he wants. He has told us how he wants us to play, the way he wants us to behave and the standards he sets. He told us that we have to treat everyone the same, from the cleaning staff to the chief executive and the owner.”
Under Scoles’ tutelage, Oldham have played two games so far. They walloped struggling Yeovil 4-1 last week but dropped two points against Dave Artell’s Crewe on Saturday with a goal conceded in the ninety-third minute. The four points they picked up, however, helped propel Athletic into tenth position in League Two. But would the New Manager Bounce help them further improve their record against the Shrimps tonight?
As for Morecambe, they arrived on the back of a critical away win at Port Vale at the weekend which pushed them up into twenty-first position in the table. They played some good stuff at times at Burslem, with impressive New Boy Aaron Collins both scoring and impressing on his debut and Richie Bennett also looking as if he is a decent addition to Jim Bentley’s team. Additionally, Man-Of-the-Match Mark Halstead looked like he was never going to be beaten: if he played even half as well tonight, the hosts would have their work cut out to find the back of the net at all. Jimbo would also no doubt be happy about the absence of Oldham’s leading scorer Callum Lang – yet another player who has plied his trade with the Shrimps (on-loan from Wigan Athletic last season) – and would certainly have improved his squad were it possible for him to be signed permanently.
It was surprisingly warm for a February as the match kicked off. Another surprise was how poor the playing surface at Boundary Park was. Despite this, things couldn’t have gone better for the Shrimps in the opening few minutes. Only four minutes had been played when, after good approach play by Kevin Ellison, Pietro Mingoia took over and put over what looked like a cross-come-shot from the right. Jordan Cranston can hardly have believed his luck when the ball fell perfectly to him and he swept it past Daniel Iversen in the home goal with aplomb. Oldham probably shaded the play after that but didn’t trouble the visiting goalkeeper in the first quarter of an hour or so. In fact, Iversen saw more action with a decent save from a Cranston free-kick with nineteen minutes played. Then Carlos Mendes-Gomes forced him into action again with a header from another excellent Mingoia cross with twenty-two minutes on the clock: Iversen did well to dive to his left to keep the effort out. Oldham’s first proper chance came when recently error-prone Steven Old made another mistake at the back after 24 minutes. Chris O’Grady got away from him and headed the ball across to Jose Baxter, whose shot forced Mark Halstead to dive low to register his first save of the evening: and a good one it was.
The match was pretty even after this with few genuine chances. The next two saves were from a long-range shot by Cranston which didn’t really trouble Iversen after 37 minutes and then the visiting goalkeeper denied Captain Clarke’s header from a Mohamad Sylla cross a minute or so later. Two minutes of the half were still scheduled to play when George Edmundson’s deflected shot from a long way out was pushed away by Halstead for a corner. Then, right at the death, Cranston received the ball from Richie Bennett and then cleverly accelerated into space and unleashed a shot when unmarked within the penalty area which only just missed the target. So Morecambe went in at half time one goal to the good as a significant number of home fans booed their own team off. In a match that had probably been far more open than either Manager would have liked, they probably just about deserved it.
The Latics’ goalkeeper was the first of the two on the field to be forced into action in the second half. He was tested by another pin-point cross from Mingoia after 49 minutes which he did well to catch and hold on to. Five minutes later, O’Grady spun and took a shot which Halstead pushed wide for a corner which came to nothing. Then, with rain beginning to fall and almost an hour played, Zak Mills caught John Branger-Engone in possession, pushed rapidly forward and smashed a hopeful shot over the bar. Kev sent a long-range shot over the bar as well after 69 minutes but five minutes later, everything changed again. Old was at fault once more when he failed to react to a routine cross from Branger-Engone and Baxter took full advantage and beat Halstead with a tremendous header. Almost straight from kick-off, Morecambe almost re-took the lead: only an outstanding save from Iversen kept Mingoia’s shot out of the Oldham net. But with the wind suddenly in their sails, Athletic started to put some sustained pressure on the Shrimps. Having said that, the only time the visiting goalkeeper was actually forced into action was when he did well to push substitute Urko Vera’s header over the bar. But Morecambe had the final say. Steven Old almost made amends for a poor game when his header was scrambled off the Latics’ line from a corner with only three minutes still scheduled to play. With 89 minutes on the clock, substitute Liam Mandeville showed us all what he can really do, ghosting past two Oldham defenders as if they weren’t there before slipping the ball across for follow-substitute Aaron Collins to make it two goals in two games for his new club as he steered the ball into the bottom corner of Iversen’s goal. He was booked for taking his shirt off in celebration – what a stupid rule – but I’m sure everyone associated with him and the club would consider it worth it. Particularly as it turned-out to be the winning goal.
So that’s two wins in a row for Jim Bentley’s team. And very well deserved they have both been. Elsewhere, the news was even better for Shrimps’ fans. Notts County were tonked at home 1-4 by Newport with Padraig Amond scoring for the Exiles yet again. Struggling Cambridge also lost and so did Port Vale at home again. So Morecambe have leap-frogged last Saturday’s opponents and moved to just a point behind Cambridge into twentieth position. Well done the lads. Well done Jim.
Oldham Athletic : 1 Daniel Iversen; 4 George Edmundson; 20 Jamie Stott (9 Zachary Dearnley 50 mins); 8 Jose Baxter; 10 Chris O’Grady (11 Urko Vera 72 mins); 16 Christopher Missilou; 22 Johan Branger-Engone; 23 Rob Hunt; 26 Peter Clarke (C)(Y); 27 Gevaro Nepomuceno; 42 Mohamad Sylla (28 Mohamed Maouche 60 mins).
Subs not used: 13 Zeus de la Paz; 3 Andy Taylor; 7 Giles Coke; 46 Harry Robinson.
Morecambe: 21 Mark Halstead; 2 Zak Mills; 3 Luke Conlan 19 Carlos Mendes-Gomes (17 Liam Mandeville 65 mins); 5 Steven Old; 12 Ritchie Sutton; 11 Kevin Ellison (18 Rhys Oates 83 mins); 4 Alex Kenyon (C); 7 Richie Bennett (31 Aaron Collins (Y) 73 mins); 27 Jordan Cranston (Y); 26 Pietro Mingoia.
Subs not used: 1 Barry Roche; 14 Sam Dalby; 25 Ben Hedley; 24 Paul McKay.
Ref: Andy Haines. 4218 (Lots from Morecambe – not sure how many exactly)
