Oldham Story - December 2009

Hello everyone, welcome back! After seeing the Latics lose 0-2 against Brighton yesterday, I was anxious not to have a similar fate in the month of December. We were sitting in 3rd at the end of November, I was hoping for another good month. We had some tough fixtures and a busy month ahead of us, one that would really test our squad.

The first game of December was bound to be tough, we were at home to face top of the table Leeds. The game with them slightly on top and they went ahead with a huge slice of luck, Rueben Hazell somehow diverted into his own net. After the goal we started to play well and had an immediate chance to draw level, but Pawel Abbott missed his penalty. We continued to play well, but we couldn’t break through and Leeds held out for a win.

During the game Dean Furman broke his ankle, he will be out for around 3 months, a blow to our chances of promotion. Hazell was also injured in the game, thankfully his isn’t as serious, but he’ll still be out for 3 weeks, another blow.

Next up and we were facing Norwich, another difficult game made harder by the fact that we were away. Once again we played well and were the better team in the first half, meaning I was quite confident at the break. However, Darel Russell headed in a scrappy goal and after that we couldn’t break them down, another defeat. This one was different though, we honestly deserved at least a draw, but we didn’t take our chances and they punished us.

Thankfully the really tough games stopped after that, our next one was away at bottom side Gillingham. The players were determined to bounce back from those consecutive defeats (which had seen us drop to 4th) and they did, in fantastic fashion. From the moment Febian Brandy put us ahead there was no stopping us. Dejan Stefanovic grabbed a double, one a header, the other a bullet free kick, and Abbott tapped in another. The scoring was completed when the unfortunate Chris Palmer turned the ball into his own net. It was a stunning performance from us, I was delighted by the players reaction after the two previous defeat.

Next for us was a home tie against struggling Exeter, the players were now getting fatigued, but I still expected us to get a victory. We started on the front foot, and Sandrinho slotted us in front in the 16th minute. Exeter equalised against the run of play, Matt Taylor finished a move that was pretty much there first attack. They weren’t level for long though, Febian Brandy ran onto Sandrinho’s fine pass to put us ahead. We had to wait until the 75th minute to secure the victory, Keigan Parker finished after a mazy run and one-two with Brandy. There was time for Exeter to grab a consolation goal, but it was too late and we held on for the win.

The congested fixture schedule continued, four days later we travelled to mid table Walsall. We didn’t start particularly well and we went behind to another own goal, this time it was loanee Martin Kelly who put through his own net. We responded well but had to wait until the 79th minute to draw level, Brandy powered in after a good ball from Sandrinho. We had a couple more chances, but couldn’t grab a winner which would have been deserved, and had to settle for our first draw of the season.

During the game Jonathan Worthington got injured, he has broken ribs and will be out for around 6 weeks, another injury now adding to our growing injury list.

The next game was just three days later, this time we travelled to Wycombe, who were struggling near the relegation zone. A lot of players were tired, so a few were rested. The three that weren’t were our heroes, goals from Stefanovic, Brandy and Chris Taylor gave us a good victory. Wycombe had initially equalised after Stefanovic’s goal, but we were always the better team and deserved the win.

Finally we had a bit of a break, a week seperated the Wycombe game and a home tie against Tranmere. I was confident after our recent good form, and we were three up inside 26 mintes, Abbott and Smalley powered in two goals, and Smalley slotted in another. Tranmere got one back, but they couldn’t score again and in the 90th minute Sandrinho, who had been pulling the strings all day, put away a penalty after Taylor was tripped.

Another injury was picked up, this time it was Pawel Abbott who was crocked, he will be out for 2 weeks.

We had one more game to play in December, this time we were travelling to Hartlepool. The game started evenly, but we struck first, Rhys Murphy, in for Abbott, was first to Brandy’s rebounded shot to roll it in. Hartlepool struck back through Denis Behan, who placed a shot in from 10 yards. We went in level, but we came out of the blocks quickly after the break, and Chris Taylor tapped in Brandy’s cross at the back post. Once again we couldn’t hold onto our lead, Brown finished a good move and it was level again. Just as I thought it was going to finish level, substitute Keigan Parker placed in from Murphy’s knock down, and we secured a dramatic win! It really was last gasp, the goal was scored in the 2nd of 2 added minutes, Hartlepool didn’t even have time to kick off again.

After the game yet another injury occured, this time it was Chris Taylor, he’ll be out for around 5 weeks with a twisted ankle. It’s another blow, he’s the best left winger at the club by along way.

So after a very good month, despite the defeats, we have leapfrogged Leeds and currently sit first! I think we were lucky that Leeds were poor this month, but I’m still very pleased with our performance so far this season. Hopefullly we can keep it up and secure promotion, it looks like a real possibility now.

Thankfully we have a much less hectic scehdule in January, we only have five games to play.

 January still promises to be interesting though, we have a lot of loans expiring, including Brandy, I hope to extend his stay at Boundary Park. Alex Marrow and Nick Blackmanwill probably leave, as well as Murphy. I will be looking to bring in players to replace those who return to their clubs. In December I agreed two deals, one in and one out. The player who will be leaving is Rob Purdie, he isn’t good enough and Oxford offered 35k, so I accepted. Coming into the club will be Alan Sheehan, he was transfer listed by Leeds so I snapped him up for 325k, I have no idea where the board got the money from, we didn’t have it in the summer, so I can only guess it’s from increased gate revenue as we hav gone up the table.

That’s all for now then folks, thanks for reading.