Oldham October 2010

Hello everyone, welcome back to another update about my Oldham story! We had made a very good start in the Championship, we were top at the end of September, now we had four games to play in October to try and consolidate that lead.

The first game of the month was against Southampton, like us they had been promoted from league one last season, it was an away game for us. The game started well for us, in just the second minute, Febian Brandy latched on to a through ball and powered past the keeper. After twenty minutes it was 2-0, this time it was Chris Taylor on the scoresheet, he beat the keeper to the ball and passed it into the open net. We were dominating the game, and it was the same after the break, Martyn Waghorn made it 3-0 after skipping past a couple of defenders. Southampton got one back soon after, but the game was all over when Deane Smalley knocked a fourth past the keeper, that rounded off a very good win.

Next up we had another game against a recently promoted side, this time we were travelling to Leeds. They have a good side, with their star man being David Beckham, who despite not having any pace is still a fantastic footballer at this level. We didn’t play very well, and Leeds got a deserved goal when veteran striker Kevin Phillips headed in Beckham’s cross. The reaction from the players was fantastic, and we got a late equaliser when Brandy ran onto Marco Verratti’s pass and slid it past the goalkeeper. It was quite a lucky draw for us, we probably didn’t deserve it but I’m not complaining.

Finally we were back at home for the next game, the visitors to Boundary Park were Reading. The match was quite even but we went ahead after Reading missed a few good chances, winger Chris Taylor thumped it into the top corner from a tight angle. The match was still in the balance for a long time, Reading were wasteful though, and the match was as good as over when Taylor got his second of the game with a placed shot. There was still time for some gloss to be added to the scoreline, Tomas Pekhart passed a third into the back of the net.

There was one more game to play in this month, it was going to be a tricky one, away at 7th placed Nottingham Forest. I was expecting a difficult game, and sure enough, we were two down at half time after a very poor performance. There was a moment of hope when Brandy pounced on a rebounded shot six minutes after half time, but it was all over when Dexter Blackstock got his second goal, to make it 3-1. I was very disappointed, not so much with the result, but with the performance, which was woeful.

That concludes the month of October then, after the defeat to Forest we have slipped down to second, but we are still in a very good position. Hopefully with some good form we can regain top spot next month.

Next month will be much more busy, we have six games to play in the league, we are now coming up to the crucial winter period of the season.

I just want to draw your attention to Marco Verratti, he has been incredible so far, just look at the assists he’s made:

17! Six ahead of anyone else, he is set for an amazing number of assists if he keeps it up.

It’s probably due to this that he’s got such a high average rating, the highest in the league.

All that for just $240k! I would seriously recommend him to anyone, he’s been my best buy ever.

That’s all for now readers, thanks for reading!