Moulded, he was folded, he was preform-packed

I don’t know why I was so sure we were going to win last Saturday. Ah well. That’s August over and done with. September is gonna be our time.

It was a changed line up last Saturday v Gillingham, with two changes forced by injury. Ogle has pulled an abdominal muscle and was replaced by Sutton, and Harratt came in for Fondop, who took a knock v Fleetwood and had a bruised knee. The treatment room keeps filling up, doesn’t it? If, as Mellon says, they’re all impact injuries, then we seem to be very unlucky. Worryingly so.

We started the match much better than we had in the previous few games. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said of the referee, who set his standard for the afternoon by booking Quigley for an innocuous challenge 30 seconds in. We didn’t come to watch you, lad.

Our performance from kick off was promising, though. Hannant played a good ball into the box, and Quigley’s shot was deflected wide for a corner. The first corner was headed out for another one, and Drummond couldn’t quite get on the end of Conlon’s excellent delivery into the six-yard box.

The chances kept coming for us, but so did the bookings. I wonder if the referee had just got a shiny new yellow card for his birthday? Mellon said after the game that he was expecting someone to get sent off; I think we all did. Nevitt grabbing Monthe by the ankles, on the other hand, did not merit a yellow card, apparently. Make it make sense.

We came out flying in the second half, and poor Kane Drummond must be thinking that he’s cursed. Early in the half, Hannant played the ball into the box, Harratt headed it across goal, and Drummond (not the tallest lad, and right under the ball rather than running onto it) headed it over the bar from a tight angle at the post. He’s getting into good positions, there’s no lack of effort from him, surely that first goal is coming for him?

Quigley had previously opened his account for us, thank fuck, and did everything but score last Saturday. He had a shot just wide from the edge of the box and headed Sutton’s cross straight at the keeper.

All of which made it really fucking galling when we didn’t deal with a corner yet again, and Vokes headed the ball in at the far post to give Gillingham the lead against the run of play. Arrrrrrrrrrrgh for FUCK’S sake.

We kept creating chances, Conlon drew a good save from Morris from a free kick, Quigley kept getting shots in but couldn’t make them count. It was gutting, it was daylight robbery, it was that old familiar feeling of frustration. It wasn’t to be. To quote Micky Mellon: “It’s soul destroying, it’s a kick in the plums, isn’t it?” Yes, yes it is. I imagine.

Mellon was also entirely correct in saying “I thought the referee was very, very, very poor all day”. He refused to blame injuries for the result, saying it wasn’t a ‘patched-up’ team and that the players on the pitch were all first team players. It’s a hell of an injury list though. For whatever reason. I thought that Sutton was a contender for player of the match, but it’s still a blow that Ogle’s expected to be out for a few weeks. Not least because he’s been our main goalscoring threat this season.

On deadline day last Monday (hello, hello, deadline day’s back, deadline day’s back), we finally completed a season-long loan deal for Michael Mellon. Maybe his dad told him he wasn’t getting any Christmas presents if he didn’t sign. Or maybe we finally came to an agreement with Burnley around his wages. Who knows. He’s got a decent goalscoring record, he helped get Bradford promoted last season, and his favourite player as a kid was the King of Kings, Henrik Larsson. He’ll do for me.

(Is it true that young Michael’s agent is his brother?! Sunday dinner must have been interesting round the Mellon house last weekend.)

Late on Monday night, Suzanne Geldard rounded off a marathon deadline day shift by reporting that we’d signed 18-year-old Harley O’Grady-Macken on loan from Blackburn until January. Apparently, he’s a promising box-to-box midfielder and he’s loved training with us. And when asked “Team you support”, he answered “I’m an Oldham fan now”. Great lad. Good luck to him.

Heading in the other direction is Josh Kay, who’s joined Macclesfield on loan for the rest of the season. Go well, Josh. That goal v Tamworth was a cracker. Given that Billy Waters wasn’t in the squad list that we’ve submitted to the League, you have to assume that he’ll be on his way soon as well.

As if the squad isn’t depleted enough, Joe Quigley has been given a 2-match ban and fined £2000 for calling a wanker a wanker at Bristol Rovers. Utter woke nonsense. Game’s gone. I hope he scores in the return fixture at Boundary Park and celebrates by windmilling his dick at the away fans.

Safe journey if you’re off to Cambridge today. Beautiful city. Very impressive clock. Let me know if they still do the Chip the Skip challenge. Maybe today’s the day for our first Football League victory in three years. Maybe. KTMFF.

Written by Arlene Finnigan. Photos © Phill Smith.