The Drummond boy from Toxteth went crash, boom, bang

Well that was better than getting battered 3-0, wasn’t it? Yes. Four points from two games is definitely better than getting battered 3-0 twice.

There was only one change to the starting line-up for the Fleetwood game, with Garner coming in for Fondop (which I was pleased about, because I could see Garner working well with Kavanagh, like he did with Mellon jnr). Which meant we were sticking with 3-5-2/5-3-2, which didn’t work at Swindon, and I’m not sure why we thought it would work last Saturday.

The first half was turgid, sluggish, awful. It felt like an end-of-season dead rubber, which makes for a pretty shite experience in February. Fleetwood always looked the more likely to open the scoring. Helm’s header from Ennis’ cross wasn’t far over; Virtue’s shot from the edge of the box was well over. Robson had a lively battle all afternoon with Ennis and didn’t have the better of it in the opening period. Hudson had to make a good save from Ennis at the near post. It was hard work, and didn’t get any easier when Garner had to go off 39 minutes in with a bust nose, to be replaced by Fondop.

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Our defence were, once again, really not looking like the best in the division, so it was very generous of Fleetwood to have one of their own players make a great block to stop Virtue’s goal-bound shot. Daniels had to put Davies’ shot on the turn over the bar for a corner. We were under pressure, and it was gutting, but no surprise, when they made it count just before half-time.

Pett gave the ball away and Payne gave away a free-kick right on the edge of the penalty area. I was furious to see Taylor getting down into the draught-excluder position: “don’t lie down behind the wall, DON’T LIE DOWN BEHIND THE WALL!... oh for fuck’s sake….”. While Andy pointed out “they’ve left a great big gap to Hudson’s left”. Guess where Helm’s free kick went. Yep, around the wall, to Hudson’s left, right into the back of the fucking net.

It was shite, and thankfully Mellon saw that 5-3-2 wasn’t working and brought Stevens on for Simeu and Drummond on for Taylor at the start of the second half. We had more attacking threat immediately. Kavanagh’s attempted overhead kick from Caprice’s cross went over the bar, but it was worth a go. Payne’s shot from the edge of the penalty area was deflected wide for a corner; Drummond wasn’t quite ready for Robson’s cross into the 6 yard box, and he hit it over the bar on the half-volley.

Drummond and Stevens were both superb, their introduction changed the game, and they got their reward 78 minutes in. They caught the Fleetwood defence out playing a lovely 1-2, and Stevens’ clinical finish drew us level. Sadly, having also had his nose bust earlier in the game, he failed to take the opportunity to celebrate his goal by pointing at the blank space on his blood shirt where his name should be. Ah well. Maybe he should play with a tampon up his nostril every week.

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It was the proverbial game of two halves, and we were pushing for a winner, but it wouldn’t come. Monthe surprised Fleetwood by making a great run down the left after intercepting the ball, but it ran out for a goal kick. Drummond came in for some rough treatment yet again and should have been awarded at least one free kick on the edge of the box, but the referee appeared to have taken a bit of a dislike to him. 1-1 was probably a fair reflection of the game, and most of us would definitely have taken it at half-time.

Credit to Mellon, he admitted after the game that he got his tactics wrong in the first half: “It was the wrong shape, the wrong way to go about things in hindsight….I’ll hold my hand up and say I picked the team, I picked the tactics, the team shape, and we got that wrong in the first half.” We all hoped that meant the end of the 3-5-2 experiment. He confirmed that it looked like Garner had a broken nose, and paid tribute to the “fabulous finish” from his other nose-bloodied warrior, Stevens, and admitted “I’m sorry that I never started him now”.

All in all, a better day than it might have been, and the unrivalled highlight for me was getting the two shinies I needed to complete my OASF sticker album. Huge thanks to Damian and Brandon for their sterling work on the swap shop. The sticker album is a beautiful document of an amazing time, and it’s been a huge success. If you’re not a member of the Foundation, please consider joining and supporting the great work that they do.

The changes that Mellon hinted at making did, thankfully, materialise for the game v Bristol Rovers. We did indeed revert to four at the back, thank fuck, and Stevens, Fondop and Drummond were restored to the starting line-up. It paid off immediately and emphatically.

Inside the first minute, Hudson launched a long ball up field. Fondop won the header, him and Drummond played it back and forth, then Drummond unleashed an absolute thunderbastard of a shot from 25 yards inside the near post and into the back of the net. Andy missed the goal because he was looking at his phone. In fairness, he can’t have expected Drummond to do THAT 36 seconds in.

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I was absolutely convinced before the game that Quigley was going to score, and did consider putting a bet on it. 15 minutes in, I thought he had. They hit us on the break, Thompson-Sommers put a cross into the six-yard box right onto Quigley’s head, and as he made contact, I turned away in exasperation, thinking it had gone in. I only realised when the Athleticos roared “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH” that he’d somehow managed to put it wide from about two feet out. Poor Joe.

If the singing of ‘Quigley is shit’ in the 17th minute was deliberately coordinated to mark his squad number with us, then it was mean. As was responding to Thomas putting his shot over the bar ten minutes later with “are you Quigley in disguise”? Mean. Just mean.

Just over two years since he suffered a cardiac arrest while playing for Luton, it’s great to see Tom Lockyer fit and well and back on the pitch. It was not great to see him elbow Kane Drummond in the face, in what looked a lot on the Sky Sports footage (which he later ridiculously claimed was “recorded on a potato”) like a deliberate assault. It was very much not great to see the referee, who didn’t see the incident, get no help from his assistant, who had a clear view of it, and presumably attempt to guess what had happened off the ball, and book both players. Just outstanding work.

Our defending wasn’t great, again, and Hudson had to make a few good saves, but thankfully their finishing was awful. Thompson-Sommers was probably their only player to come out of the game with any credit, and his shot from the edge of the area went over the bar. You could almost see why they thought Quigley would be an improvement to their squad worth paying a six-figure fee for.

Drummond had yet another defence terrified, and their only response was to try to kick the shit out of him. He was left hobbling after Kilgour lunged at him early on in the second half, which he got a deserved yellow card for. I wasn’t hugely impressed with Payne, but he did have a decent shot from the edge of the box, which was deflected wide for a corner. Our hesitant defending continued, and Rovers had a chance to equalise when a mix-up between Daniels and Hudson allowed the ball to bounce for Thomas in a dangerous position, but his attempt ended up on top of the roof of the net.

We gave ourselves a tiny bit of breathing space when Drummond’s pace allowed us to hit them on the break again, and yes, Senior did stop Robson’s attempted cross with his arm. Probably. Maybe. Young did well to save Fondop’s initial shot, but Mikey was calm and sharp enough to tap in the rebound. God bless Cameroon. Migration is beautiful.

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Lockyer was subbed after 66 minutes, before we had the chance to bring Garner on to fuck him up. Joe Quigley – poor, poor Joe Quigley – was put out of his misery and brought off a few minutes later, much to the mirth of the Athleticos. “You want your money back.” JUST FUCKING MEAN.

Hudson continued to have more work to do than we would have liked, superbly saving Kilgour’s header from Thompson-Sommers’ long throw and punching the ball away before Harrison could get to it. With 5 minutes left on the clock, we brought Hammond and Garner on for Fondop and Drummond, allowing the two scorers to have their own lap of honour. I’ve no idea where seven minutes’ stoppage time came from, but happily, it passed quickly enough, and the evening ended as we all hoped, with Fondop waiting patiently for Drummond to join him for the fist pumps at the Rocky. Wholesome content.

Mellon praised how hard the players worked, and the effort from the whole team. He was delighted for Drummond, and poked a bit of fun at Fondop’s penalty attempt: “Michael made it a wee bit exciting, played a one-two with the goalkeeper, which we don’t want to see too often.” Drummond was as entertaining as you’d expect in his post-match interview, and gave the perfect response to being asked if that was the best goal he’s scored: “Yeah. For now.” Yiirrrss. Made up for you, lad.

The biggest win for Oldham this week, however, was in Italy. Huge congratulations to Canada’s Megan Oldham, who followed up her bronze medal in the freeski slopestyle by winning gold in the freeski Big Air event at the winter Olympics.

📸 Sean Kilpatrick. Little bit of Oldham everywhere.

Safe journey if you’re off to the Garden of England today. Having stood on the terrifying uncovered scaffolding that passes for an away end twice, I have no great wish to ever go to Gillingham again. Here’s hoping I miss out on a cracking away win and a Drummond hat-trick. KTMFF.

📸 Kane Drummond

Written by Arlene Finnigan