I was watching the so called 20 Worst Refereeing decisions last night, and an interesting game came on from 2002. It flashed up on the Sky Sports results that Sheffield United, who were losing 0-3 to West Bromwich Albion had just gone down to 6 men. Three had been sent off, and two had been injured. The letter of the law meant the game had to be called off, causing huge anger. Now to the point, the scores were going on in the backround live, and as we do I though I would see how city were getting on. I t said Oldham 0 Cardiff 6, and I thought of Andy Campbel and the legend that he became and then...... For those who might find nostalgia interesting read on: Oldham 1 Cardiff 7 (Saturday, 16 March, 2002_ Oldham's play-off hopes took a battering as they crashed to a 7-1 defeat against a rampant Cardiff City side at Boundary Park. It was a nightmare return to Boundary Par for former Scotland international Andy Goram. The goalkeeper, who played for Oldham from 1981 to 1987, has been brought in by boss Mick Wadsworth to resolve a goalkeeping crisis following injuries to Gary Kelly and David Miskelly. But he was beaten seven times as Cardiff gave the other Division Two promotion hopefuls a clear warning of their intention to succeed. Scott Young put the Bluebirds ahead early on and Leo Fortune-West and Peter Thorne gave the visitors a three-goal cushion with only 23 minutes on the clock. Striker Andy Campbell hit the fourth on the half-hour mark and Oldham's problems deepened when Matty Appleby was sent off. Fortune-West hit his second goal on the stroke of half-time and Campbell completed his hat-trick with strikes in the 64th and 73rd minutes. Stuart Balmer pulled a consolation goal back with 16 minutes left but it was not enough to spare Oldham's blushes. Oldham: Goram, Clegg, Balmer, Baudet, Armstrong, Appleby, Colusso (Carss 34), Murray, Eyres (Darren Sheridan 83), Corazzin, Smart (Duxbury 45). Subs Not Used: Holden, Miskelly. Cardiff: Alexander, Weston, Young, Prior, Legg, Gabbidon (Simpkins 76), Boland, Kavanagh (Collins 66), Campbell (Jones 75), Fortune-West, Thorne. Subs Not Used: Walton, Hughes. Of course there was that famous goal against Queens Park Rangers, but also that infamous penalty miss against Leeds, where he was desperate for a goal. Unded up in Halifax as I recall, I wonder where he is now?
One of those player that despite all their shortcomings or underacheivements you thank them for what they did. It started me thinking about ex-players who would fit the current squad. Not thinking about the big names who were highfliers, but players who might have been square pegs in round holes or for whom things just didn't pan out. Despite his lack of goals for us (he sscored for fun for Rotherham), Ronnie Moore was a cult figure. Given his work rate and ability to hold the ball up, how would he compare to Miller? Probably a player who would have thrived under MM, even if he still didn't score a hat full. Any others?
That brought back some great memories of a sunny day out in Oldham... There was a guy stood next to me who was at the game on his own and after about 10 minutes of pre-match singing, he uttered his first words as he told me he wasn't a Cardiff fan, rather that he was from the Red side of Liverpool, but lived in Oldham because of a move with his job and hated them as the local guys he worked with were a bunch of P****s! So he optimistically chose the Cardiff game as an opportunity to stand with the away fans and hopefully see the home side get it handed to them - I don't think he could have dreamed that he would be so lucky as to see the events that unfolded???!!! As for players from the past, what about Cohen Griffith?
