How October's let us down

Well October was a pile of shite, wasn’t it? Two points from a possible twelve, no wins, Conlon crocked for the season. Thank fuck it’s over, bring on November.

The weather was pretty beautiful last Saturday, if nothing else. One of those glorious autumn afternoons when you need two pairs of socks at Boundary Park, but you also need sunglasses.

Given where Shrewsbury are in the league, it wasn’t unreasonable to expect to beat them at home, and it started promisingly. In the opening minutes, Mellon jnr probably should have scored when his shot at the near post was pushed onto the woodwork by the keeper, which set an unfortunate precedent for the half, with Robson’s shot from the edge of the area being tipped onto the bar.

Brooks was possibly lucky to only see yellow when he came racing out of his area and wiped out Caprice, although I guess he was going away from goal. We continued to dominate without making it count, and my God am I fed up of typing that sentence. I’m not sure what Daniels was doing in the opposition box, but his shot from a tight angle wasn’t far away. A lovely bit of play that started with Hannant nicking the ball in the middle culminated in Mellon jnr once again hitting the post from Caprice’s cross.

📸 Oldham Athletic

I had a feeling that all those missed chances were going to come back to bite us on the arse, and so it proved. Shrewsbury had clearly had a rocket up their collective arse at half-time, and they took the lead less than 20 seconds into the second half. Daniels’ awful attempt at a clearance provided the assist for Scully, and to be fair it was a superb finish. Yes, we missed it because we were still at the back of the Rocky. You probably missed it too. Or at least wish you had.

At one point in the first half, when we desperately needed to take one of our million chances and Pett was on the ball, I said “don’t you shoot, you’re no good at it”. You’re all welcome. Shrewsbury’s crap defending left him pretty much unmarked in the penalty area when Robson cut the ball back, and he buried it for his first Latics goal. Fabulous. And credit to the referee for telling Perry, who went down injured after the goal and was being treated near the by line, to get off the pitch so that she could restart the game.

📸 Oldham Athletic

The game was crying out for Fondop, and he came on for Mellon jnr (before he could get a hat-trick of hitting the post), with the lesser-spotted Hawkes coming on for Hannant shortly after. Brooks tried his best to gift us the lead when he once again came sprinting out towards the corner flag and Garner crossed the ball into the box, but it was cleared before anyone could put it into the empty net.

All of which made it horribly gutting when some crap defending let Shrewsbury score what looked like a 91st minute winner. A terrible mix-up between Caprice and Daniels created a chance for them out of nothing, and McDermott punished us for it. For FUCK’S sake.

You could be forgiven for pissing off to the bar at that point. I certainly considered it. But, with 5 minutes added time signalled, it would have been a mistake. Shrewsbury tried and failed to clear the ball multiple times from a corner in the 95th minute, Woods played it back into the box, and Joe Garner’s perfectly placed header sailed into the net. He wheeled away in celebration, went to take his shirt off (as McDermott had done), and remembered just in time that he’d already been booked. The magnificent shithouse.

📸 Oldham Athletic

Even that far into stoppage time, we still had the chance to win it. Woods floated in a free kick that was put out for a corner in the 97th minute; Woods’ ball into the 6 yard box went through Brooks’ hands, but we couldn’t put it away.

If you’d offered me a draw before the game, I’d have directed you to look at the league table and told you to fuck off. But if you equalise in the 95th minute, you definitely have to see it as a point gained rather than two lost.

Our form so far this season has been, to put it kindly, patchy. We may be ‘the best defence in League Two’ (we were before the game last Saturday, anyway; I’m not sure if we still are), but we’re conceding some infuriating goals against the run of play. We’re creating shitloads of chances and not taking them, and we’re getting punished for it. It’s frustrating.

It was great showing our friends Saraan and Rachel the sights of Oldham, though. (The Greyhound, the Fox and Pine, the Egyptian Room and the Bank Top, since you’re asking.) I’m sorry I warned you to bring your big coats but not your sunglasses, I wasn’t expecting you to need them to be honest. And thank you so much for this.

You can buy Saraan's artwork at Cotswold Alphabet Art

Regular readers will be familiar with our mate, Irish Billy, who hit the bar in the fans’ game at Avro just before the takeover was announced. It’s the last game of the season in the Irish Premier today, and his local team, Galway United, have a massive game away to Waterford. The two teams are level on points, and Waterford are currently in the last relegation place on goal difference. Adh mor, Gaillimh. Into these crystal nonces.

FA Cup first round today. God it’s great not having to play a qualifying round, isn’t it? We can either treat it as a free hit or treat the greatest competition in the world with the respect it deserves. I hope it’s the latter. We could really, REALLY do with a cup run, because, let’s face it, the League campaign has been something of a disappointment so far. Our first round game last season was a lot of fun. I seem to remember that Drummond was unlucky to not score at Tranmere. Maybe today's the day. KTMFF.

📸 Phill Smith

Written by Arlene Finnigan