Oldham Story — The Season Ends

Hello everyone, welcome back! At the end of March we were doing very well, we were 17 points clear and needed just another three wins from the final eight games to secure promotion.

The first game of the month was against Gillingham, they were struggling near the foot of the table, so I expected a win. We completely dominated the game, but our finishing was poor, we had already had three clear cut chances when Febian Brandy twisted away from two challenges to give us the lead. Just a minute later and it was 2-0, Brandy grabbed his second, he intercepted the goalkeeper’s poor pass and beat him one-on-one. We continued on the front foot after the break and it was all over when Brandy’s fine pass picked out Deane Smalley  who powered in. Gillingham got a barely deserved consolation when Bryn Halliwell delfected into his own net following a scramble in the box. It didn’t matter though, we had won, and because Leeds had only drawn, one more victory would send us up.

The game that could see us gain promotion was going to be a tough one, away at arch rivals Huddersfield, they were having a great season and were up in 4th place. The game was always going to be tough and Huddersfield dominated the opening stages, going ahead through Rivardo Vaz Te. We started to look a bit more lively after that, but they were still creating chances and before the half hour mark it was 2-0, Andy Pilkington got their second goal. Our task was always going to be an uphill one after that, and I was disappointed by the performance in the first half by the team. In the second half we were much better, but, despite Brandy giving us hope, it wasn’t to be and we lost our unbeaten record.

I was disappointed but we still only needed one victory to secure promotion, and we had a great chance to do it in the next game, we were facing Bristol Rovers at home. I was seriously worried when they went ahead early on, I thought the players couldn’t stand the pressure. However, only four minutes later Smalley powered in to equalise, and from then on we were the better team. We pressed them for the remainder of the half and we got a second when Marco Verratti powered in a free kick and we had the lead. In the second half we looked a little shaky, they had a couple of chances but thankfully didn’t take them, and we survived to secure the win, we had been promoted!

With Leeds only drawing their game we were also confirmed as Champions of League One! It was a great day for the fans, they had been waiting years for this!

After that game, and with promotion secured I rested a few players and gave some backup players games for the last five matches. The MK Dons game was very entertaining, after going 2-1 down, we fought back to 2-3 ahead, but in the last minute we conceded an equaliser. A great performance form Brandy got us victory over Southend, after resting him for a few games he came back in and scored four! We finished witha 0-0 draw with Charlton, it wasn’t a great way to end the season, but I’m not too bothered.

Here is the league table then, it was a great season for us, we wracked up an amazing 107 points and finished 21 points ahead of Leeds, who will play in the Championship with us next season.

Now some player stats for you, sorted by average rating, for cup games as well as the league.

The player of the season for us was, without doubt, Brandy. He scored an incredible 39 goals, as well as making 16 assists. Also very pleasing was Marco Verratti and Sam Hutchinson’s performance after arriving in January, Verratti will surely be a world class player in a few years. Sandrinho’s season was also very good, what a bargain he’s been at just 30k! At the other end of the scale, Gareth Williams hardly played, I will let him go in the summer, and Daniel Nardiello was disappointing, I am still thinking about what to do with him.

Here is confirmation of Brandy’s amazing performance this season, he finished a full 15 goals ahead of the next best scorer, had the highest average rating in the whole league and the most man of the match performances. I must try and get him back on loan next season, it’s doubtful that Unied will let him go, and we won’t have enough money to buy him anyway.

Another Oldham player was top of the assists chart, this time it was Sandrinho (most of his assists were for Brandy), although Brandy was only two of the top there as well.

That concludes a fantastic season for us, my first in charge of the Latics, I can’t wait to get started next season, but first I think there will be lots of activity in the transfer market. I think we need a new centre back, centre midfielder, another winger, and possibly another striker and goalkeeper. I hope the board will give me some money, although we should raise a bit with quite a lot of players about to be sold.

That’s all then readers, thanks for reading!