A trip to Boundary Park is not one of the best with due respects to Latics fans, a ground which has seen better days, one sde has been demolished, the weather always seems to be dire up there which makes it worse as t's one of the highest grounds in the country, on the plus side both sides had good results in mid week. Latics have not won at home this season and there have been rumbling of discontent amongst the natives. Dickov has won a bit of time following Tuesday's victory at Crewe. They made an impressive loan signing in Matt Derbyshire from Forest but have struggled slightly this season. NorthEnd fresh from their victory will probably make 11 changes as GW tends to do, don't expect this will be full entertainment that will depend on whether it's blowing a gale. Question is will The Riddler still be chairman after his bit of non tax paying?
This was a shocker, North End produced a performance of such stunning ineptitude as Oldham cruised to a 3-1 win. As usual the trip to Boundary Park also corresponds with the arrival of a localish ice age,. Twenty years ago this ground stated Premiership football however the years since then have certainly taken it's toll on Boundary Park. The old Texaco stand has been demolished, the main stand has areas where the seats have been taken out for sfaety reasons, the phrase past it's best springs to mind. Luckily there wasn't the usual gale force wind rattling around the old ground but the temperature was distinctly chilly. North End dominated the early stages and nearly took the lead when a massive throw from keeper Stuckmann found Amoo in space after an Oldham dfender had tripped on a worm cast. Amoo advanced on goal and has rasping effort was pushed past the post by keeper Bouzanis. To be honest the football was pretty drab, as both sides cancelled each other out and the ball tended to be fired skywards on too many occasions. Latics took the lead after 27 minutes, King gave away a needless free kick and Baxter duly curled the ball into the net past the outstretched hands of Stuckmann. (1-0) Neither side threatened in the minutes up to half time although one shot from Beavon was well saved by the home keeper. The game ambled along for 10 minutes until a fine move down the left hand side of the pitch led to Montano sliding the ball past Stuckmann into the net to double the lead for the home side. (2-0) From then on in North End disappeared, pass went astray with regularity as Oldham threatened to rack up a few more, Stuckmann had already pulled off one brilliant save early in the second half, when he also did well to block a Derbyshire shot to the near post. The third goal wasn't long in arriving, gifted by Byrom whose past back to the keeper only found Furman who was able to advance on goal and beat Stuckmann with ease. (3-0) At this point many of the large away following made for the exits, those that left missed the sending off of Cansdell-Sherriff, seemed a harsh red card, although from my vantage point it was hard to say whether he was last man or not. Sodje got a consolation for the away side with the last kick of the game but by then noboby really seemed to care. Pitiful Oldham Athletic 3 Preston North End 1 Att 5496
