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Oldham Athletic 2 v 2 Northampton Town

Saturday, 2nd November 2019 Kick-off 15:00
flatlettuce added 20:40 - Apr 6
Good three points but an awful game - how we got away with that I'll never know. Loach's stopping was excellent but kicking needs work, and I really wish he would catch sometimes rather than punch. Defence otherwise was solid enough. The midfield spent a fair part of the game chasing shadows or waiting for the ball to drop - I swear the ball only spent about 5% of the game on the grass, and that was as much Derby's fault as ours.

Turning point for me was Derby taking Craig Bryson off - he'd been the best player on the park and was bossing the midfield, plenty of good runs and excellent vision. When he was removed N'Daw and Tabb came into it.

Still, I will take the three points and yet another McCarthy clean sheet. Come On You Blues!
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cbower added 21:43 - Apr 6
The fifth time that I have been to Pride Park and it's four wins and a draw for Town! Whilst not a great game by any means, this was a victory to savour. Nothing is certain in the Championship but most will be confident that we should now be able to accumulate 4 or so more points from the remaining games to ensure safety. Smash and grab (or "burgled" as MM has said) it most certainly was!

Throughout the first 45, the home side pressed and at times the Town goal led the proverbial charmed life. Sammon was proving a handful with his physical and direct running style and when he broke midway through the first half and found himself one-on-one with Loach he looked certain to score. To our delight, he neatly slid the ball past Loach and onto the post and a bullet was dodged. The Town midfield battled and toiled and our best opportunity came shortly after the Sammon miss when Edwards rolled back the years, showed a turn of pace to beat his man wide and crossed low across the Rams' six yard box with Murphy narrowly failing to make the necessary contact to finish. The home side continued to dominate with lots of possession and several corners but the Blues' backline held firm as home chances were repelled. A minute before the break, another corner for the home side found Keogh diving in on the back post with Smith in close attention. As the Rams' skipper went to ground, the ref pointed to the spot. It looked harsh but there did not seem an awful lot of protest. Loach made himself big, bouncing on his line. Ward elected to go straight down the middle and Loach saved with his legs before gathering the ball to avert the chance of a rebound. Ward gave the post a good boot in frustration and we had dodged another bullet. In all honesty, had we been 2-0 down, we could have had no complaints. We had ridden our luck!

As the second half began, the game moved into the same pattern but I felt we looked solid and a little more of a threat. An hour in and Mick made two substitutions. Murphy, who had worked hard and made his contribution, was replaced by Nouble whilst Drury, who had been a little anonymous to be honest, exited in favour of N'Daw. Whilst the tide did not decisively change, N'Daw added more bite to the Town midfield and somewhat surprisingly, a little more forward momentum too. Mid-way through the half Town suddenly seemed to press higher up the pitch. The fans like to see this but it almost cost us dear and as Derby broke, the ball went wide and the Budgie Martin slid home. Again to our delight, the flag was raised and the clean sheet was still intact. A mazey run from the half way line by McGoldrick raised hope but his shot ws blocked and he was then penalised for a foul as he went for the rebound.

Sammon claimed a penalty but was waved way and a few other chances and one further penalty appeal were thwarted by a resolute Town backline. With five minutes remaining, McGoldrick was replaced by Chopra, the striker receiving very warm applause on his final appearance for the Blues this season. The gentleman behind me spoke with his lady companion as N'Daw gave away a free kick for handball about 20 yards out. I overheard him say that the Rams had missed a pen, hit the post and they will not score from the set piece. He added, we will get the winnner on 93 minutes. Turning round, I told him I would kiss him if we did (much to the amusement of the lady - the man looked worried though!) The game entered stoppage time and I reckon we were all more than satisfied with a point. 3 minutes in, Edwards broke from the half-way line and ran directly at the Rams' defence before striking from 20 yards past the desperate lunge of Fielding. Ecstasy amongst the Town fans and I turned to the gentleman behind. We celebrated like men but thankfully no snog! The boys saw out the final seconds and then came to the raucous Town support to share the elation. The now customary Chambers fist pump was joined by Smith and Edwards was held aloft by the unsued JET. MM will surely have heard the "Super Mick" chants and the job he and TC have done so far deserves great credit. Not a great perfromance but a truly momentous result. The atmosphere at the end was as good as I can remember in years. The togetherness of the fans and the players was something to savour.
A few comments on the players if you care to read on:
Loach: great penalty save and a couple of other decent saves too. A solid performance if a little shaky on the kicking at times.
Stearman: I want him to sign - not much more to say than that
Smith - imperious defensively throughout.
Chambers - almost faultless apart from once in the first half when he was too easily turned by Sammon. His partnership with Tommy is the bedrock of our improvement.
Cresswell - defensively sound. One great strike at goal late on. Inconsistent set piece delivery.
Edwards - doing the job Mick is asking of him and a great strike for the winner. Don't think he wil be first choice next year.
Drury - not short of effort but minimal impact today. He was the obvious candidate to be taken off.
Hyam - plenty of effort, tackling and challenges. Must work on his distribution. One chance to shoot in first half was miserably screwed wide.
Tabb - industrious throughout. One great run in second half got us a corner. Would be a useful addition next year.
McGoldrick - works hard, neat, tidy and will bring us some much needed class next year. Quite skilful but certainly not pacy. Needs the right partner and service to thrive.
Murphy - can't doubt the yardage Murph puts in and when he jumps, he can win the high balls. For me though, the operative word is "when". More physicality from Murphy is needed in my opinion
N'Daw - although at times he can give the ball away with sloppy distribution, he is a ball winner who can impose himself in the middle of the park as he did today after coming on.
Nouble - full of running and effort which was what was needed from him today
Chopra - not much to say for Chops. He did what he could i the ten minutes he was on the pitch.

Great result and well done if you have got this far through to the end of the report!
6



TractorBeezer added 01:42 - Apr 7
Thanks cbower, When we play in the north end I look forward to reading reports from you (and mullett...were you there?) to really get a good sense of the details. It's appreciated.
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AlexanderFields added 09:57 - Apr 7
Seconded. Always good to read reports from both contributors.
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TimmyH added 12:36 - Apr 7
Yeah thanks for your thoughts on the game cbower - already getting the feeling the players we need to sign and the one's we need to release.
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dirtytractorgirl added 23:01 - Apr 9
Perhaps stowtractor boy and others will stop abusing loach on here from now on. Man of match performance on saturday and more importantly he is one of us!!!!!!!
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