I should have told em, Oldham. Home, 15th Oct.

[DJBlu]

Haha,

2-0

Doubt him at your peril.

He's one of our own, he's one of our own, Zach Clough, He's one of our own!

[TANGODANCER]

Proctor takes the net and trident from the Machine and strides into action across the greensward.....Can we end the goal deadlock (okay, scarcity). Latics still sniffing at us and Beevers makes a "sensational" tackle. Over to Spotland to find....nothing much....oh, wait, well, make that 2-0 Rochdale Then......back at the main event....and we still can't make all our efforts.......and at that point a visitor arrived and I just got back. 2-0 will do nicely thank you....

[TANGODANCER]

Surely must be all over now and....we get a free kick for offside and....mention of added time and....Derick figures then they get a free halfway. Still they try and Howard takes no chances with a good save. Sorry about the gap folks but visitors don 't think about the Whites (grr) Four mins added and...credit to Oldham for keeping trying as Record lashes one high, wide and not so handome. Oxford beating Bradford as we bring down the curtain on this local extravaganza I'll bid you a happy good afternoon....

[jmjhb]

2-0. That'll do. Solid if unspectacular.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Super. And Vale got tatered 4-0 at Blades, which - with Rochdale's hilarious 2-0 win over Bury, which puts Dale fourth and Bury down to sixth - puts us third, two points behind Bratfurt, who lost Oxford.

A good day. (Scunny won, but hey-ho.)

[Prufrock]

Had 3-0 Clough first goal at 55-1.

Useless bastards.

[BWFC_Insane]

Far better. System looks more balanced but still not sure it's quite there.

Thought Spearing and Thorpe looked great.

Vela did well too.

Clough produced that end product that has been missing. His challenge is to do it consistently. I hope that gives him the confidence to go on and do so.

Soearing man of the match once again.

Credit to Howard though for a great save second half that without we'd have not taken the points.

[plymouth wanderer]

No good that Clough! anyone who thinks otherwise is a mug

[Peter Thompson]

Replacing Trotter with Thorpe has made a massive difference. We now actually play with 11 men.....and Thorpe will get better the more games he plays.

[Riviman]

Replacing Trotter with Thorpe has made a massive difference. We now actually play with 11 men.....and Thorpe will get better the more games he plays.

Totally agree with this.

[TANGODANCER]

Far better. System looks more balanced but still not sure it's quite there.

Thought Spearing and Thorpe looked great.

Vela did well too.

Clough produced that end product that has been missing. His challenge is to do it consistently. I hope that gives him the confidence to go on and do so.

Soearing man of the match once again.

Credit to Howard though for a great save second half that without we'd have not taken the points.

You really are a harsh task master Insaney. He scores two and immediately you're kicking his ass for more. How about a "well done lad! for a change?

[malcd1]

Replacing Trotter with Thorpe has made a massive difference. We now actually play with 11 men.....and Thorpe will get better the more games he plays.

Totally agree with this.

Me too. Not a spectacular player but does the simple things right. He made a lot of good interceptions and tackles before they got near our defence or goal.

I thought it was a good performance all round. Vela did OK further forward in the Nolan type role. Madine was a handful throughout. Spearing was at him most consistent best. The defence were good although Wilson worries me sometimes. Wheater and Beevers look a good partnership and Andrew Taylor should keep Moxey out every week.

Happy with the result and a 2-0 score was probably about right. Thoroughly deserved the three points.

[officer_dibble]

PT you were right on Trotter (thought Thorpe played really well).

But

Calling Vela lazy - hang your head fella.

I'd be surprised if sny outfield player covered half the distance he did today. He's clearly been told to play a new role by Parky and he's reaping the benefits. End product missing a bit - more mcateer blade covering than nolan goalscoring imo.

The Spearing/Beevers/Wheater axis was mom though. Well worth that I thought.

[officer_dibble]

Far better. System looks more balanced but still not sure it's quite there.

Thought Spearing and Thorpe looked great.

Vela did well too.

Clough produced that end product that has been missing. His challenge is to do it consistently. I hope that gives him the confidence to go on and do so.

Soearing man of the match once again.

Credit to Howard though for a great save second half that without we'd have not taken the points.

You really are a harsh task master Insaney. He scores two and immediately you're kicking his ass for more. How about a "well done lad! for a change?

He's shagging his wife...he's shagging his wife

I was actually calling for clugh to be subbed for Proctor, thought he had run out of steam!

[Peter Thompson]

PT you were right on Trotter (thought Thorpe played really well).

But

Calling Vela lazy - hang your head fella.

I'd be surprised if sny outfield player covered half the distance he did today. He's clearly been told to play a new role by Parky and he's reaping the benefits. End product missing a bit - more mcateer blade covering than nolan goalscoring imo.

The Spearing/Beevers/Wheater axis was mom though. Well worth that I thought.

BTW I've not mentioned Vela at all today so I'm not sure where that comment has come from - but by all means carry on....

For what its worth in previous games I think he has been lazy & lethargic, but today he was much better in a much more forward midfield role - perhaps he enjoys it in this position as today was perhaps the best I've seen from Josh Vela.

[Athertonian]

Decent performance and a needed win. Despite that it's worrying that we only scored one goal from open play with the chances created. Oldham are a poor side and offered very little as opponents.
We need someone who has a knack of putting the ball in the net else we could struggle later on in the season.

[Bruce Rioja]

Replacing Trotter with Thorpe has made a massive difference. We now actually play with 11 men.....and Thorpe will get better the more games he plays.

Absolutely bang on there, PT. That really was the key to a totally unrecognisable display today from those against Dale and Oxford.

These are my player ratings. Please feel to disagree / discuss etc. (or if there's anything I've missed)

Howard. Precious little to do as nearly every Oldham shot went comfortably over the bar. However, alert when called upon in the second half to make an excellent double save. I do wish he'd take a bit out of one or two of his kicks though.

Wilson. Rarely troubled and as such pushed on well. One rush of blood moment late in the first half which might have cost us against a better side, but delivered the two best crosses of the game by a mile which deserved t have somebody on the other end.

Wheater. Solid, played easy balls out of the back and made a nuisance of himself on our set pieces. Nearly scored too.

Beevers. Of the guys that Parky's brought in this guy is shining like a beacon to me. I honestly think that had this guy been around last year then we may have stayed up. OK, we're in the third division but Beevers and Wheater are looking as solid a centre back pairing as I've seen at our place in many a year.

A Taylor. Like Wilson, having little to do defensively decided to push on and did well. Showed a couple of gawjuss controlling touches.

Spearing. Man of the match. Absolutely bossed midfield, popped up everywhere and was involved in everything. This is exactly what we know he can do, and, not having to do Trotter's work for him and knowing that Thorpe was behind him was free to, well, be Jay Spearing. Welcome back.

Thorpe. Composed, cool, confident. Everything you want from the guy in the Warhurst / Campo position. And as has been mentioned, he'll get even better at this.

Vela. Like Spearing, being freed-up by the set up brought a much improved performance. Some sloppy distribution but a couple of excellent tackles.

Clough. A beautiful free-kick for the first. To get the ball up and down from that close in requires wonderful technique, I didn't think he had enough room to do it - shows all I know . Did what we've been waiting for him to do for the second - latched on to the loose ball and cracked it home instinctively. Injuries seem to have nicked a yard off of his pace so positional sense is going to be of increasing importance to him.

Madine. The busiest I've seen him. Was being fouled on a regular basis - mostly ignored by the ref. That said, I've still never in my life seen a bloke of his size get brushed off the ball as easily. Came close with a couple of headers and embarrassed himself with another which missed by at least 25 yards.

Ameobi. When I've seen him play previously he's simply looked like a newborn girrafe, yet today he looked like a very decent footballer. Some very good surging runs with the ball at his feet. I have to say though that I'd absolutely no faith in him being able to finish when he went through one-on-one.

Subs:

Proctor. Came on late on Madine. Managed to put a run in before getting caught in possession, winning it back only to get caught in possession again.

Derik. Came on late on for Thorpe. Solid enough

Henry. I honestly can't remember who he came on for but it was too late for him to do much anyway.

[officer_dibble]

PT you were right on Trotter (thought Thorpe played really well).

But

Calling Vela lazy - hang your head fella.

I'd be surprised if sny outfield player covered half the distance he did today. He's clearly been told to play a new role by Parky and he's reaping the benefits. End product missing a bit - more mcateer blade covering than nolan goalscoring imo.

The Spearing/Beevers/Wheater axis was mom though. Well worth that I thought.

BTW I've not mentioned Vela at all today so I'm not sure where that comment has come from - but by all means carry on....

For what its worth in previous games I think he has been lazy & lethargic, but today he was much better in a much more forward midfield role - perhaps he enjoys it in this position as today was perhaps the best I've seen from Josh Vela.

Yeah its cos you called him it before and inwas waiting for him to prove you wrong - I think he's been hit and miss performance wise but never lazy.

[jetsetwilly]

Decent performance but still very poor in front of goal. Madine and Ameobi missed a hatfull.

Anyone know what happened in Horwich? Lot of trouble by all accounts?

[plymouth wanderer]

Decent performance but still very poor in front of goal. Madine and Ameobi missed a hatfull.

Anyone know what happened in Horwich? Lot of trouble by all accounts?

At least they're getting in the right positions! Parky will sort it!