Oldham Story — February 2011

Hello everyone, welcome back to another installment of my Oldham story! We were flying after a brilliant set of results in January, we had just four games to play in February, we wanted to win all of them.

The first game was against struggling Watford, they had little confidence going into the game, they were down in 23rd place. They showed how badly they were playing, in the 3rd minute we were ahead when Febian Brandy placed a shot in. After that it was the Brandy show, Watford had no answer to his brilliant performance, he went on to bag a marvellous hat trick. Two good goals from Adeilson and one from Marco Verratti compounded Watford’s misery and gave us our biggest win yet.

Next up we welcomed the visit of Southampton, unlike us they haven’t adapted well to the Championship and they were struggling near the relegation zone. However, they started well and looked solid at the back, we were the better side but couldn’t break them down. It took us until the 56th minute to break the deadlock, that man Febian Brandy popped up again to slot us into the lead. It was 2-0 and as good as over when Deane Smalley smashed in past the keeper, although there was time for Southampton to pull one back, it didn’t matter, we had won.

The next game was also against a struggling side, this time Leeds came to Boundary Park. We were dominant throughout the first half and we went ahead just before the break, Adeilson continued his good start by turning and smashing the ball into the back of the net. It looked all over when Adeilson blasted in his second, but when Leeds got one back I began to get worried. Indeed, deep in injury time we conceded a sloppy goal from a corner, from a comfortable position we had suddenly dropped two points, I was very disappointed about that.

The final game of the month was sure to be difficult, we had a tough trip to second placed Reading to play. The game started with Reading on top but we looked very dangerous on the counter attack. That paid off in the 18th minute, Chris Taylor got to the byeline and crossed for Smalley who volleyed in. The match continued in much the same way, Reading had some chances but didn’t take them. We punished them for that in the 35thminute, Brandy placed a shot past the goal keeper after running on to a through ball. After half time it was very similar, Reading got more and more desperate and our defence finally cracked with5 minutes to go. It made the final few minutes pretty nervy, thankfully the players didn’t feel them and we held on for a great win. I have been very pleased with our performance against the big teams this season, once again we had far less attempts, but what matters is that we took them.

After that short but good month we have opened up a huge 14 point lead at the top of the table. I am delighted, we will surely go up now.

We have just four games to play next month, they will all be difficult, we will have to be at our best in March.

That’s that then, that’s all for now, just a short update there, we edge nearer and nearer to promotion!

Thanks for reading everybody.