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Spring is sprung, the grass is riz, I wonder where the play-offs is? For now, it looks like the playoffs are on the wing, but true to Durham’s unquenchable optimism, whilst there are points to play for, there is always hope. It could be argued that the U’s on Saturday didn’t get that memo, in what felt like a surprisingly flat ‘end of season with nothing to play for’ game against an equally unambitious (and poorly supported, I thought) Walsall.
That being said, we really should have won the three points our overall control deserved, but for more classic ineptitude from the match officials – harsh on Samson, and Danny receives another apology from PGMOL. Worse still, as claimed at the time by others with a better vantage point, they admitted Walsall’s goal was offside too!
Anyway, I’m over it now, it wasn’t given, theirs was, so that’s that.
It was our first visit to the West Stand, as part of the match ball sponsor group to celebrate my brother-in-law’s 70th birthday. Lovely meal, very attentive staff, and overall a really enjoyable experience – albeit I had to drive, so couldn’t make as free with the on-tap alcohol as others (by all accounts) did. It was also an interesting vantage point to watch the game, or more specifically, to see and hear the emotions that Danny goes through during a match.
So, seven games to go, 21 points to play for, and a potential 75 points total as the target. Will that even be enough for the play-offs? The previous two seasons 70 points would have been enough, and 75 in 2023, but it was 77 points in 2022. Who knows, but there’s no point in fretting about it – all I’m hoping for is for the U’s to finish out what has been, by any measure a very good season, in a positive manner, get as many points on the board as they can, and then just see where we are then.
As mentioned, I was slightly surprised at the lack of ambition from Walsall, considering they are much more in the play-off mix than we are. Perhaps, after falling apart post-Xmas for the second season running, under new manager Darren Byfield they just want to get to the end and prepare for another go in August? I very much doubt we’ll see the same from Oldham, who surrendered a ten-match unbeaten run on Saturday, the last five as straight wins, thanks to a stoppage time goal from Holíček at Gresty Road. They’ll be smarting from that and will be looking to get back to winning ways in their own play-off push.
The Latics usually play a similar 4-2-3-1/ 4-5-1 formation to the U’s, with their own midfield maestro Payne (Kai in this case) in the no. 10 slot. Also like the U’s, they don’t have a single stand-out goalscorer and tend to spread them out across multiple players. Mike Fondop-Talom and Michael Mellon (son of manager Micky) are their leading scorers in the league with seven each. Mind you, not having a talismanic striker to keep quiet doesn’t necessarily make it easier for the U’s, as Oldham clearly carry a threat all over the place. And the final similarity, our discipline records are very similar, the U’s edging it slightly on yellow cards, although Oldham have three red cards to our one. The one difference to be wary of is that Oldham are 6th in the league on set-piece XG, whilst we are 19th…
In the ‘they played for both’ category, the obvious name is Rob Hunt, who had a long spell at Oldham between 2017 and 2019, but there are plenty of others. Super Scotty Vernon, scorer of the winner at Bournemouth that arguably sealed our promotion to the Championship, and Mark Yeates, another gem from that promotion season, are two of them. Chris Porter, with the assist for our Great Escape victory against PNE (don’t mention the penalty) also had a spell at Oldham early in his career. Then there is Brian Wilson, U’s player-manager Allan Hunter, Wayne Andrews and Marc Tierney. There is no doubt many more, but that’s not a bad batch of players to start with. I’d take any of them at their prime in the squad tomorrow, and that’s absolutely no reflection on our current squad.
As to our line-up for Saturday, and wouldn’t you know it, after getting injured seconds before half-time, Tom Flanagan looks like he might be out for the rest of the season with a groin injury. Danny hasn’t given up hope he might return before the end, but if I’m honest, he looked a little off his game in the first half with some misplaced passes, so he wasn’t going to be in my starting XI anyway. Frankie Terry came on as a make-shift centre-half, a position he has played in the past, and he did okayish, but seemed a little sluggish when some speed-up football was needed.
However, he’s probably the best fit alongside Tucker to start, with the remainder more or less as was from Saturday. I’d like to see more of Edwards coming on in the second half, and Tovide off the bench if Williams isn’t working out, and I fully expect to see Hunt join the action against his former club at some point in the second half.
The best we can do tomorrow in terms of position is leapfrog Fleetwood if they lose at Bristol Rovers and we get at least a draw. However, let's focus on all three even if it proves to be too little too late, with the U’s winning a tight game 2-1. Oldham to take the lead in the first half from a set-piece, only for Lisbie to get a long overdue goal to equalise second half, and Samson to score the winner he was denied on Saturday, blasting home in added time. Now that really would be a Good Friday!
Expect Oldham to travel in much better numbers than Walsall managed, and with the crowd also buoyed by those taking advantage of some bank holiday football, we could see close to a 6k crowd. Weatherwise, I’m not sure how it is over in Essex, but today has been an absolute cracker. However, in true bank holiday fashion, patchy cloud cover will roll in tomorrow, a moderate breeze from the southwest will play havoc with any high balls, and light(ish) rain could be expected at some point during the day. It will be a mild 15 degrees though.
Hold ‘em, ‘old ‘em! – Lieutenant Merriott Cowley on 08:55 - Apr 3 by ghughes11
Very good Wessex.
Just wondering who you would have gone for at centre back alongside Tucker if Flanagan was not injured?
To be honest, we don’t have many alternatives for centre-backs right now. Sam Kuffour Jnr would probably have been a bit too much of a gamble, so if Flanagan hadn’t done better second half, it would have been Terry anyway, or drop Rob Hunt in there - he seems to play everywhere else.
Terry in for Flanagan as expected, and Hunt starts in place of Bishop. No keeper on the bench either, which is significantly different to my prediction - Bishop (as mentioned), Goodwin, Edwards, Back, Barbrook, Akachukwu and Kuffour Jr.
Hold ‘em, ‘old ‘em! – Lieutenant Merriott Cowley on 15:09 - Apr 3 by wessex_exile
Crap, but my prediction is still on track, Oldham to take a first half lead from a set piece :-(
Even game so far, just one bit of real quality, and unfortunately it was from Oldham, but we're still in it, just not creating any clear-cut chances. Btw, I'm aware my prediction involves Samson scoring an added-time winner, which obviously can't happen, but I'll be more than happy to start with Lisbie getting an equaliser second half.
Hold ‘em, ‘old ‘em! – Lieutenant Merriott Cowley on 15:53 - Apr 3 by wessex_exile
Even game so far, just one bit of real quality, and unfortunately it was from Oldham, but we're still in it, just not creating any clear-cut chances. Btw, I'm aware my prediction involves Samson scoring an added-time winner, which obviously can't happen, but I'll be more than happy to start with Lisbie getting an equaliser second half.
Visitors looked organised and having an unbeaten run shows confidence in things you try. Never pressed on after equaliser, but Lisbie had a great chance saved by the keeper which would have put us on the front foot . Game showed again, to lightweight at the top end of the pitch . Classic game of taking your chances wins games.
Hold ‘em, ‘old ‘em! – Lieutenant Merriott Cowley on 11:47 - Apr 4 by bwildered
No reserved keeper in the substitutions . Is Harrison injured ? Suggest first team full debut awaits final game of season if available.
No, he did the pre-game warmup with the forwards. Not sure why he wasn't in the squad, seems a little odd. If Smith was fit I'd play him over Macey who was poor on Saturday.
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