Oldham Athletic fan’s column: We’ve got that winning feeling
A comprehensive victory started the week as Steve Thompson’s interim reign as manager continued with a 4-0 defeat of Oxford City.
Only 22 away fans made the trip to Boundary Park and they were left well and truly disappointed after we totally dominated them from start to finish and, in truth, could have had more than the four we actually scored.
Devarn Green had an exceptional first half, with his pace terrifying the City defence and he scored a superb goal too. Brennan Dickenson was back on form, topping his display with two fantastic goals and defensively, the Hobson-Hogan partnership looks to be developing very nicely.
My standout player though was James Norwood, whose anticipation of play is – unsurprisingly considering where he came from – at least two divisions above where we are and his work-rate was unbelievable.
His leadership of the team and almost coaching his team-mates where to play the ball for him was sensational and that will only get better as we continue to play more on the front foot as we have under Thommo so far.
An unchanged line-up started the match on Tuesday away at Kidderminster Harriers with, on paper at least, that same attacking desire.
Despite this, Kiddy started the match stronger and had the better of the first half which had, surprisingly considering the previous two games, seen the front two out-of-form though admittedly very isolated too.
Green lit up Aggborough with another superb strike after excellent work from the ever-reliable Mark Kitching to give us a rather fortunate half-time advantage.
Once the hosts equalised they were well on top, but it was changing the front two and a couple of subtle tactical changes from the management, including moving the again excellent Dickenson more central, that changed the flow of the game.
Kitching swung in another of many superb crosses, which was met by Dickenson and mopped up by the poaching number 25, Alex Reid, to ensure he was the man on the minds of Oldham fans with the winner.
Impressively, the team saw the game out professionally, limiting Kidderminster to only the odd half chance and ensuring the three points were going back to the north west with a 2-1 win.
The organisation and tactical nous that Thompson and Neil Redfearn have brought in – with limited time on the training ground due to the matches coming thick and fast – is going to be key for the new manager to continue to develop so that we can win as we have this last week – both handsomely, and grinding out results when not playing well.
