Step by step from Town to Town

4 games, 7 points, 5^th in the league. A solid start, with flashes of brilliance. HMS Piss the League remains on course.

It was a game of two halves v Swindon last Saturday, overwhelmingly dominated by Oldham in both. The only change to the starting line-up was Nevitt coming in for Fondop. The referee let a lot go but was reasonably consistent with it.

We were on the front foot from the kick-off, and Delaney was unlucky to not get his first goal for us when Drummond crossed into the box from the left, but his header was over the bar. I’m a big fan of Robson going and giving Middlemas a shove after he fouled Norburn – I’m pretty sure Norburn is quite capable of fighting his own battles, but I like to see players stick up for their team-mates. From the resulting free kick, Robson whipped the ball into the box and Scott-Morriss’ shot was just wide. One full-back setting up the other to score would have been a nice way of taking the lead.

Drinan (who I seem to remember played far better against us last season) put one of Swindon’s few chances straight at Hudson; I thought he was offside anyway. Fawunmi was tearing Swindon to bits down the right, and after making a great run and putting the defender on his arse, his shot drew a very good save from Ripley.

It was frustrating that we hadn’t made our chances count, so, 39 minutes in, Andy made the necessary sacrifice and went to the bar. Sure enough, two minutes later, Norburn intercepted the ball as Swindon tried to play out from the back, and played in Kavanagh, who was definitely fouled on the edge of the box, but the referee waved play on. Thankfully the ball fell to Nevitt, who did really well to get a shot away on the turn and put it away to give us the lead. You’re all welcome.

It was one way traffic in the second half, and we had one corner after another, including one that no-one got on the end of, but the assistant referee flagged for offside when it fell to Scott-Morriss, apparently unaware that he couldn’t have been offside from a corner. Scott-Morriss very nearly scored from a subsequent corner, but Ripley (who got a good reception from the Rocky at the start of the second half and applauded us back) made a brilliant save low to his right from the header, then turned round and shrugged and smiled at us, the annoyingly likeable little shit.

Monthe made a welcome return 68 minutes in, when Daniels had to go off with what was hopefully just cramp. We also brought on Fondop for Nevitt, whose race was clearly run, and Chilvers for Fawunmi, who had run himself into the ground. Fondop had a good chance almost straight away when Appiah-Forson played the ball to him on the edge of the box, but Ripley made another good save.

I thought it looked like a foul in the box on Appiah-Forson (who was running Swindon ragged), but the referee was having none of it. It was a different story when Kavanagh played a great ball down the middle to put Fondop one-on-one with Ripley, who caught his leg and brought him down to give away a penalty.

Our old friend’s good-natured banter evaporated and he was apoplectic, accusing Fondop of diving. Mikey had his own less explosive head-loss and wasn’t happy about not getting to take the spot-kick himself. Kavanagh wasn’t put off by any of the shenanigans and buried the ball to the left.

Having played a part in both of the first two goals, Kavanagh’s impressive start to the season continued when he again played Fondop in on the edge of the box, and, having spotted Ripley just off his line, God’s number 9 lifted the ball over him to put us out of sight. Ripley must have been fuming; Fondop didn’t exactly look delighted, to be honest. We did, though.

Ripley’s fury at Fondop continued at the final whistle; Mikey, thank fuck, didn’t respond, and cheered up enough to do the fist-pumps with Drummond. All’s well that ends well.

Mellon was so pleased with the performance and the result that he even praised the referee. He was pleased to see Nevitt get off the mark, and also to get a reaction from Fondop. He said that Oldham should always expect to win at home: “the Oldham team should play the Oldham way, representing the local people, which is grit and hard work”. Amen, brother.

Fleetwood was one of our first away games last season, and it ended in a somewhat frustrating 1-1 draw. After such an impressive performance v Swindon, we were hoping to improve on that this season. Ah well.

It was an unchanged starting line-up, and a pretty even first half. With the form that Kavanagh’s in, he’ll be disappointed that he couldn’t put away Daniels’ ball into the 6-yard box/misplaced shot (delete as appropriate). Hudson made a superb save low to his left from Helm’s shot from the edge of the area after we only half-cleared a free kick. After Kavanagh controlled a long ball well and had his shot from the right of the box saved, Nevitt was really unlucky to slip before he could put the rebound away.

We gained more control as the first half went on and went ahead with a brilliantly well-worked goal just before half-time. Norburn intercepted a loose Fleetwood pass in the middle (he’s good at that, isn’t he?), Kavanagh played a great ball to release Drummond down the left, and he showed the calmness that he was missing early last season, taking the ball around Rooney and putting it past the keeper. Nice Baby Shark celebration, too. I think that’s what it was, anyway.

We did initially keep the pressure up in the second half. Fondop came on for Nevitt an hour in, as expected, and he had a decent chance straight away, heading wide from a corner. Fawunmi and Delaney both went off with what looked like hamstring injuries, replaced by Pett and Monthe. The Fleetwood captain went off with a quarter of an hour to go; legally, I can’t say what I’d like to about him, but there’s something quite heartwarming about seeing him look as shit a footballer as he is a human being.

We were already sitting too deep before Woods came on for Kavanagh. If there’s one thing we should all have learned from the World Cup, it’s that sitting back on a 1-0 lead with twenty minutes to go is asking for trouble. Conceding an equaliser in the 88^th minute is always sickening, but it had been a long time coming. Rooney had far too much space on the right of the penalty area, and he played the ball in for Coughlan to tap in at close range. That annoying fucking hornpipe that they play when they score certainly didn’t help my mood. Ban commercial fishing. It’s unsustainable.

It could have got worse in stoppage time, when Rooney bundled the ball into the net, but he clearly bundled Hudson in with it and the goal was disallowed. 1-1 was probably a fair result overall, but it couldn’t help but feel like two points thrown away. As Robson said after the game, “it’s one of them, it gets you right in the guts”. Guts, bollocks, minge, however you want to put it, it was a kick in them.

Mellon said post-match that we looked tired out wide and up front, so “we tried to get a wee bit more energy into it”. By bringing Woods and Pett on? He was keen to take the positives: “listen, it’s a hard-fought point, it’s a point on the road”. Sigh. I guess. He also reassured us that Delaney had cramp and Fawunmi just needs match fitness.

The women’s team kick their league campaign off this Sunday at 2:30pm with a trip to Stretford Paddock. They played their first ever FA Cup tie v Wigan last month in front of a crowd of 381, and while they suffered a 4-1 defeat, it was quite a milestone and saw 16-year-old keeper Indi Rogerson make her senior debut. I don’t know where they’re playing their home fixtures this season; hopefully it’s a bit closer to home than last year.

A bit of life coaching to end on: if any of you are currently job hunting and looking to pitch yourselves to potential employers, don’t very publicly slag off your former boss and talk about how, in a recent previous job, you drank far too much, called in sick all the time, and got told off for bitching about one of your colleagues who was actually out-performing you. If you’re struggling mentally, it is, of course, good to talk, but please talk to your doctor or a therapist, and not some banter lords on a podcast.

One of our favourite away trips today, as we head to our old friends Tranmere. They’ve made a good start to the season so it’s unlikely to be as easy as it was last season, but hopefully Tequila can get another airing. Drink responsibly, kids, and KTMFF.

Written by Arlene Finnigan. 📸Thomas Lee Stacey.