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I will not lie to you, comrades. It is MUCH easier to write 1400 fairly interesting words about a very enjoyable win at Tranmere than it is to write about a 0-0 draw at a Southern Leisure Centre. Nevertheless, I shall persist.
Firstly, let’s call a spade a spade. How rubbish was the TV coverage? The camerawork was all over the place, often not keeping up with the play. The half-time ‘analysis’ was an absolute shambles – the sound had gone, the pundits didn’t appear to know they were on air, someone put a thumb up in front of the camera lens while the sound still wasn’t fixed, I’ve no idea whether it was to indicate that they were live or not. Sort it out, DAZN, you can’t be charging people for this shite.
It was a little disappointing, but perhaps understandable, that neither Stones nor Clucas made the starting line-up. More worrying was Van’on d’Or winner Mike Fondop’s absence from the squad, and we can only hope that God sees fit to heal his hamstring quickly. No one was more dismayed at the first XI than Otis Khan superfan, @TheReal_AQ. Give them a follow, their obsession with him is really funny.
📸 @TheReal_AQ, the mad bastard
There…. just isn’t that much to say about the game, is there? It was a decent, end-to-end game, both teams had chances, Barnet probably had the best of them. We were both pretty poor up front, Hudson made some great saves, including a brilliant one from Brown late on at full stretch to tip the ball onto the post. It was a shame that both Norwood and Drummond were brought off when Stones came on, as we know how well Norwood and Stones can play together, and it would have been interesting to see how Stones and Drummond got on.
One of the more entertaining moments was the pushing and shoving and argey-bargey at the end, which saw Stones and Oluwo booked. Everyone enjoys a good scrap, and it’s always a good sign, in terms of team spirit, when players wade in to stick up for their mate, and Uchegbulam flying in to defend Stones was particularly heartwarming. If they were boxers, Stones would definitely be a few weight divisions up from Jes, but it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.
Also entertaining was Mat Hudson’s response when asked if he was OK after going down injured and needing physio treatment late on: “yeah, I’m fine, just a bit of play acting!” Shush, Mathew, don’t say it out loud! Excellent shithousery.
Mellon denied that we’d set out to play for a point – “We’re Oldham, we don’t come and take that as a prize, we’ve come here to try and beat them” – but argued, probably rightly, that we’ll be happier with the result than Barnet, who still have to come to us, and we’ve done well to get the results we have on the road recently. He was full of praise for Hudson and Raglan in particular. Is it me or is his Scottish accent getting stronger? It definitely sounds like it when he talks about us having “worked oor socks aff”. Nowt wrong with it, like. (My own accent, as you can see, has become something of a pan-Lancashire mess.)
It was a bit ‘after the Lord Mayor’s show’, but it was also an excellent point against a team who had a 100% home record up until last Saturday. It’s nearly Christmas (yes, it is, I’m putting the tree up this weekend, and no-one can stop me) and that’s the first time all season that we’ve failed to score. We’ve got Charsley to come back into the team, Clucas and Stones are still getting match fit. We’re grinding out results in games we would have lost last season, and there is much more to come from this team.
A massive well done to our women’s team, who set the standard by beating Rochdale 2-1 last Sunday. According to the Rochdale match report (there isn’t one from our side, unfortunately), our first goal was against the run of play and the second was a dodgy penalty, which makes it all the sweeter. The win means we leapfrog Rochdale to go third in the league. Get in there, girls. Over to you next week, lads. The women are at home again on Sunday to Hindley Town. KO at 2pm at Chapel Road, get down to cheer them on if you can.
Off the pitch, the club continues to do us proud. Today, being the nearest home game to Armistice Day, is our Remembrance Day fixture. The club have been sharing veterans’ stories throughout the week, highlighting the work of the charity Combat Stress, and giving free match tickets to current military personnel and veterans. Tributes will be paid to those who have died in, or been affected by, conflict before the game today. I’m as guilty as anyone of staying in the pub too long and barely making it in time for KO, but it really is important to get to the ground in good time today.
The club also unveiled their Silver Latics initiative this week, aimed at local people aged over 55. An open event is being held in the Joe Royle Stand on Wednesday 11th December between 11am-1pm, with people being invited to give feedback on the project, which is aiming to provide a warm space, hot food, and an opportunity to socialise. The Rothwells said that they wanted to make the club central to the local community when they took over the club, and they’re delivering. We’ve got a club to be proud of again.
Whether we can be proud of Matt and Dave (I’m not calling you ‘Sexy’, Dave, stop asking) is up for debate, but they’re throwing a Christmas party, and you can still get 4 tickets for the price of 3. Get yourself a quiz team together and get your tickets bought.
A point at Barnet is a good result IF we win today. Tamworth are apparently known as the Lambs. The ‘to the slaughter’ pun is too easy, it is beneath me. But it would be lovely if we could give them a pasting today. Is lamb paste a thing? Ask Dave, he’ll know. Full respect to them for knocking Huddersfield out of the FA Cup, but you’re up against a truly massive club today, lads. May the longest throw win. KTMFF.
Written by Arlene Finnigan
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