Oldham Story — September 2011

Hello all, welcome back to my Oldham story, another update is ready for you! We had started really well, beating both Chelsea and Man City in August, that meant that we had climbed to the top of the table, although I doubted we could stay there.

The first game of the month was a home one, Wolves were travelling to Boundary Park. As is becoming a theme so far this season we were out of the blocks quickly, in the 10th minute Guilherme finished a nice move down the left wing. Just two minutes later Guilherme got another one, he beat his marker and placed it in, it was the perfect start for us. We were all over Wolves and I thought it was going to be a rout, however, that didn’t happen, we relaxed for the rest of the half. In the 57th minute we were punished for our lax play, Lee Chun Soo gave Wolves hope. That seemed to wake my boys up though, we defended resolutely, the defence looked solid and the three points were ours.

In the game Matthew Briggs picked up an injury, it was only a minor knock though, he’ll be out for two weeks.

The next game was going to be difficult, we had to travel to Tottenham, they are a very good side, finishing 4th last year and 2nd the year before. They had players such as Aaron Lennon and Luka Modric on the wings, I was worried how my young left back Jason Stevenson would cope against Lennon. In the end I suppose he didn’t do too badly, although Lennon scored two neither were his fault. Lennon opened the scoring in the 18th minute, but after that we looked good, in the 62nd minute we got a deserved equaliser through Adeilson. That seemed to wake Tottenham up, they were determined to get a winner and my defence crumbled, allowing Peter Crouch to score twice and Lennon to get another goal, it finished 4-1.

More injuries were picked up in the game, both centre backs had to go off injured, Martin Caceres will be out for between 2 and 3 weeks, thankfully Otamendi’s injury was very minor, that only kept him out for two days.

We took a break from the league for the next game, we faced League One side Doncaster in the League Cup 3rd Round. I sent in some of the backup players for the game, although I was forced to use Guilherme and centre back Ruben due to injuries. It was the Spanish defender that gave us the lead, he thumped in a header from a corner. We continued to create lots of chances, but we were wasteful in front of goal, that disappointed me. Doncaster got an undeserved equaliser in the 51st minute, that made the players more determined to put the scoreline right. We managed to do that through Guilherme, he showed his class in the closing stages, and substitute Pablo Hernandez sealed the victory, we are through to the next round, were we will face Reading, I think we have a decent chance of progressing.

We had one more game to play this month, it was another home game against Sunderland. Once again we got off to a great start, in just the 4th minute Marco Verrattiblasted in a free kick to give us the lead. Sunderland were playing well though, they were creating chances and that worried me. We definitely needed another goal and we got one, Adeilson scored. It was a scrappy goal after good work from Guilherme on the left. Sunderland continued to play well, they deserved at least one goal and they got it through Darren Bent. After that it was all Sunderland, they were on top but I was very pleased that they didn’t manage to create any clear chances, we held firm to maintain our 100% record at home this season.

That finishes another short month, we have managed to stay top of the table, but I can’t really draw any conclusions yet, it’s too early on. I am sure we’ll hit some bad form at some point, we’ll have to manage as best we can when we do.

Next month we have some tough games, including a home tie against Everton, always a tough side, and a trip to Old Trafford, that will be a real test.

That’s all for now my friends, thanks for reading!