Latics punish poor defending to sneak a draw

The effect of four games inside nine days appeared to wear off on the players in Monday's fixture at home to Oldham Athletic. The Owls were without inspirational skipper Chris Marsden and failed to create too many clear cut opportunities in what was a lacklustre and tiring performance by both sides.

Chris Brunt scored his first goal of the season in the 70th minute when he turned and fired a shot in from the edge of the box, via the legs of Lee Peacock. But the Owls threw away their advantage four minutes later when Jermaine Johnson pounced clinically on a defensive error by Patrick Collins. The former Sunderland man misjudged a long punt downfield by Latics' keeper Pogliacomi and couldn't recover in time to prevent Johson from smashing the ball past Lucas in the Wednesday goal.

The Owls now have a four day break before tackling league leaders Luton Town, who amazingly have won six out of six so far in the league, at home on Saturday.

This report from Beastie...

After a dodgy pizza last night I was hoping the match would lift my spirits and take my mind off the dodgy bum and jippy stomach, but it was at the forefront of my thoughts for the full 90 minutes. If anyone doubted the contribution of Marsden, and his affect on the team as whole, then surely his absence today showed in huge shiny bright lights, what he brings to the team.

For the first 20 minutes or so it was one of the most non descript games I can recall, and for almost all the first half it continued to be some of the most uninspiring stuff yet, from both sides. True, we did go close(ish) three times, but from outside the 18 yard box, and not really a well crafted opening. By the same token, they also went close the once, when Jack got in behind and tried to shoot, rather tamely at goal, only for Lucas to gather the ball pretty easily.

For my money, in the first half, Whelan was about the only one who at least looked to try things, and was the most industrious of a lacklustre team. The front two for Oldham are as lively a pair as I've seen for a while, and caused problems throughout the match. In fact for the lions share of the first 45 minutes Jack ran Collins ragged. If Jermaine Johnson spent as much time concentrating on the job at hand instead of whinging all the time when things don't go his way, he may have caused more than the odd problem and could well set the division alight, but with his temperament, I can't see it.

They really did miss a Sherry type player to distribute the ball, and we missed commanding figure in the centre of the field. As I said, Whelan was industrious without being fantastic, but I don't think it works with him and McMahon on together, they seem too similar to me. Dave (Ndumbu-Nsungu) was diabolical, and it was no surprise to see him subbed at half time. It was like watching a rerun of that old computer game, Gauntlet.."Blue warrior, all your powers will be lost"...Well what powers Dave had, seemed to have totally been lost, as he seemed almost incapable of beating a man, and very adept at losing the ball.

Second half was marginally better, and Brunt actually made a difference. He looked to be on one of his up moments, which was nice to see. Both goals were a bit of a shock TBH, as the shot from Brunt wasn't exactly top drawer, and I expected the keeper to save it.

I'd been saying to the young 'un all game, we'll do well to keep their two from scoring for 90 mins, and it was poor way for us to let them back in, but fair play to the lad, he took the chance well, from a speculative punt, massive punt, upfield from the keeper, and an unfortunate mistake from Paddy let Johnson in to show his finishing skills. Johnson then did himself no favours at all by having a slanging match with fans, and gesturing to them as he walked off.

Other than that odd lapse, the defence did better in the second half, and Paddy in particular got some excellent tackles in. Richard Wood, did well, especially considering he's just been thrown in. It's strange with this defence, that we have such talented individuals, but they seem like they've never met. I know there's changes again today, and it's all new for the season, but they must practise with each other. Some of the communication is abysmal, and in one case almost let them in, when the ball was clearly a keepers ball, but there can't have been a shout, so Bullen went for it, and didn't get rid far enough.

Overall the midfield looked the weakest link to me today. There was no steel there, and they walked through us a little too easily at times. In some vain attempt to stop this, we reverted to the long ball again, which, as we all know, gets us nowhere.

It comes hurtling back almost as soon as we've got shut, and we're under pressure again. Had we played it, as we can, on the deck, then I'm sure we'd have had more luck. In fact on the rare occasions that defenders carried the ball out of defence, we looked at our most dangerous, but it wasn't done nearly enough. On the occasions that JP got the ball his skill in bringing the ball down and under control at times is exquisite, and some of the passes he gets leave a lot to be desired, which makes his skill even better.

On 3 occasions (That I can remember) however, their defender, Griffin IIRC, cut out the pass, and I tell you, it was a very good bit of defending. Without him, they could have suffered a bit more. Besides the long ball play which disappointed everyone, I think I was most upset by the amount of dead ball situations we had, and squandered, from good positions around the box. Their keeper is a tall lad, and every free kick, and corner we took was too close to him.

He lapped them up. I agree with comments about the sub's. I couldn't understand why Whelan was taken off, especially to push JP inside to accommodate Proudlock out wide, it didn't make sense to me. On the balance of play I think a draw was prolly a fair result, though for long periods they did play for that result, which, if I were an Oldham fan would have pi$$ed me off no end, as they had the ammunition up front, just not the team to help them out.

This whole performance seemed very jaded to me today, and players we've all admired of late, especially for their work rate, seemed a little off the pace. I know they're professionals and they get played a lot of money to do this, but a lot of games in a short period of time doesn't help, and I wonder even more now, if that Walsall game was a game too far for some.

The rollercoaster of the Tranmere game straight after sapped even more energy, especially with only 10 men. Peacock for one wasn't his normal self, though he played a good role in Brunts goal. Not an enjoyable game, a poor display by the Owls, and we can definitely do better, but I'm not ready to join the lynch mob yet.

Half-time: Owls 0-0 Oldham

Chris Turner's post match comments:
"We should have edged it. The goal we conceded was disappointing. (Patrick) will learn from that and will rise above it the next time he is in that situation. Richard Wood coped extremely well with the two boys who were extremely quick."

"When you've got three key players missing, and have four players under the age of 20 - McMahon, Whelan, Collins and Wood - it's that bit of self-belief that you're missing. You need your leaders to come to the forefront and that's what we were missing today. But we've played three games in six days and some of those boys have done extremely well."

"That's what he's (Brunt) got to do from the first minute. There's no doubt the lad has talent and ability. He livened us up and gave us a natural left-hand side but we need him to do it from the start."

AnzOwls post match comments: With no Lee, Branston or Marsden there was a lack of experience in the side. And it showed with the clumsy equaliser just minutes after taking the lead.