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There was only ever going to be one Stones emerging victorious last Saturday. It was never in doubt. Not even at 2-0 down. Merry Christmas, everyone.
Wealdstone have been something of a bogey team for us in the past, and I had a feeling the match wasn’t going to be the walkover that the previous two league games had been. We didn’t make life easy for ourselves when we gifted the visitors the opening goal early on. Hudson spent too long fannying about passing it back and forth to his defenders, then panicked and played it out under pressure from an onrushing Wealdstone forward, straight to Obiero, who put them 1-0 up.
You shouldn’t throw players under the bus for howlers like that, every player at this level has got a mistake in them, and we’ve mostly been solid at the back this season. Our defending from set pieces could do with working on, though. After we only half-cleared their corner, it looked at lot like there was at least one Wealdstone player offside as the ball got hooked back into the box, but there was no excuse for our poor defending, and we got punished for it.
At 2-0 down and with less than ten minutes to go until half-time, I thought I’d do everyone a favour and go to the bar, and as usual, it seemed to wake the team up. Caprice made a great run down the left, and Stones possibly should have done better with his shot when the ball was cut back to him. He made amends shortly after, making no mistake when Caprice played a great cross into the box right onto his head. You’re all welcome.
Having already missed one goal, and having learned my lesson from the Orient game, I was keen to get back to my seat at the start of the second half. “Come on, let’s get back before we miss another goal.”
Cue yet another rubbish long throw by Ogle not being dealt with by the Wealdstone defence, the ball being headed down and Stones’ shot hitting the back of the net on the word ‘goal’. Again, you’re all fucking welcome.
The momentum was with us, and young Joshua was unlucky to not get his hat-trick when Norwood broke down the left and his cross was just too far forward for him to get on the end of it. It was time for God’s number 9 to come on as we chased the winner, and sure enough, he was flattened in the penalty area by a Wealdstone defender after getting on the end of a long ball.
He REALLY should have let Stones take it to get his hat-trick. Stones probably would have buried it at the first attempt. Their keeper (the 7th they’ve played this season, apparently) made a good save from Fondop’s initial shot straight down the middle, but thankfully Mikey stayed composed and alert enough to bury the rebound. He works in mysterious ways.
How many times did we take the lead last season and we all thought “we’ll find a way to fuck this up”? Whereas, at 2-0 down, I was fully confident we’d fight back and win the game, and I know I wasn’t the only one. That’s just what Oldham do. We fought back, we took the lead, we shithoused our way through the last few minutes and hung on for all 3 points.
Mellon continued his charm offensive after the game, acknowledging that the players were ‘undercooked’ and not at their best, but saying “I tell you who was at their best, the supporters…the supporters get it”. He all but admitted he threw the FA Trophy game, a competition he emphatically ‘couldn’t care less about’ and put forward a strong argument for it being far better for Stones’ development to stay in our first team: “I think he came to us undercooked…he’s a boy that needs to play football regularly”.
Josh Stones clearly does not want to go back to Wigan. He wants to stay at Boundary Park and keep banging in goals and get promoted with us. He wants to tug on Norwood’s sleeve in training and ask him “please, Surrogate Dad, will you teach me how to be a massive shithouse like you?” “Go and ask your Uncle Joe, son.” Come on, Wigan. Do the right thing. For HIS sake.
From social media, it looks like the squad had their Christmas do in Temple Bar on Sunday. Me and Andy have been lucky enough to go to Dublin a couple of times in recent years for the All-Ireland SFC Final. We never go anywhere near Temple Bar, because neither of us shits money. We’re clearly paying these lads too much, bring back Alan Hardy. Huge respect to them for all attending the kids’ Christmas party two days later. Having to deal with 100 kids in a bowling alley with a Dublin hangover cannot have been easy.
Timehop reminded me yesterday that it was three years ago this week that Bradley Knowles, Dominic Weiss and Nathan Price received letters informing them that “You have displayed a desire to promote your dislike of Oldham Athletic Football Club, its management and its progression, and you are influencing others to do the same. You are taking deliberate steps to harm the club. In light of these circumstances, I am writing to inform you that you are officially banned from all first team and youth team games at Boundary Park and any other ground where either team are playing for a minimum period of three years. This is imposed with immediate effect.”
I can’t believe that was only three years ago. The more woke among you will have noticed that there’s no mention of them being banned from watching our women’s team. That’s because we didn’t have one at the time. The previous regime binned it off. You may also have raised your eyebrows at the bit about them being banned from “any other ground where either team are playing”. The club did not, of course, have any authority to ban anyone from other grounds.
And that bilious mess of a former director has the cheek to call the current administration of our club ‘inept’. How far we’ve come.
Three years ago, Andy beat me to it, taping his own message to the Boundary Park main entrance. We were boycotting at the time. Here he is last Saturday, along with Luke McMurdo and James Reade, representing OASIS, who donated £325 to OACT’s Christmas Toy Appeal. As I said, we’ve come a long way.
📸 OACT
Safe journey if you’re making the trip to the (God bless us and save us) Rare Breed Meat Co. Stadium today. I’m sure your families are delighted that you’re making a long and expensive trip to Essex four days before Christmas. Have a great festive week, all, and I hope Santa brings you everything you want. And by ‘everything you want’ I mean Josh Stones staying for the rest of the season. All the best, everyone. See you on Boxing Day. KTMFF.
📸 Oldham Athletic
Written by Arlene Finnigan
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