Midweek football this week meant two games to watch with the second blog to follow this one. Tuesday night was a repeat of last week with a trip to The Hive with another postponed game slotted into the calendar as the first ever ex-Premier League side travelled to take on Barnet.
Oldham Athletic have had quite some fall from grace over the years and none more so than appearing in the top flight of non-league football and an unwanted record at that to harvest.
Survival is the name of the game for the Latics after such an awful start to the season and whilst there has been some improvement still a long way to go before safety is assured.
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Barnet snapped their mini losing streak at the weekend, the long unbeaten run ended but still in a comfortable position as we enter the business end of the season.
A cold February evening awaited the players and supporters inside the stadium, a fair few having travelled down from the north hoping their team could back up the away win against play off contenders Chesterfield at the weekend.
The Bees however suffered a blow before kick off with keeper Laurie Walker injured in the warm up meaning Aymen Azaze given a rare start and James Callen taking his place on the bench.
Barnet could have been in front in the first minute, Idris Kanu having a shot blocked and away for a corner. The visitors however did go in front on five minutes from a corner of their own, Mark Kitching flicking the ball into the net.
Despite the setback the Bees were the brighter of the two sides across the first half with Oldham happy to sit on their lead, Barnet looking to move the ball across the pitch waiting for the space or mistake to happen.
It took however until five minutes before half time for the home side to equalise, Nicke Kabamba putting the ball into the path of Kanu for the winger to slide the ball home for a level half time scoreline.
The Bees looked the more likely to score as the second half began, Harry Pritchard arriving at the back post only to hit the side netting whilst Sam Beard couldn’t get his header on target.
And with that Barnet were made to pay. A hopeful lob forward saw Azaze steam towards the edge of his own box and clatter Alex Reid, the ball falling nicely for Mike Fondup to score from an acute angle.
Pritchard then had further chances, the trademark near post header flashing wide of the far post and then shooting over the bar from Dale Gorman’s quick thinking free kick, sandwiching a Finley Potter header that was cleared off the line.
A lifeline arrived for the Bees with 13 minutes to play, handball given in the Oldham box, Gorman with the chance to level the scores, but Magnus Norman tipped the midfielder’s low effort over the bar.
Just as the board went up for the amount of stoppage time added on it was left to the Latics 41 year old Peter Clarke to get on the end of a corner that Azaze couldn’t keep out to ensure the points were heading back to Oldham.
Disappointing night if you were a Bees fan and plenty said enough on social media afterwards and following Dean Brennan’s post-match interview. Whilst Azaze will probably agree he didn’t have a great game for the goals conceded nor his personal kicking there were enough chances to win a game or two.
The system changed again and after the weekend win over Aldershot possibly to the detriment of the team, but I felt that the way around the Latics was via wing play given their defensive style and the best chances for created that way.
Safe to say Oldham saw Kanu as the biggest threat, seven fouls in the first 20 minutes on the ex-Peterborough winger and the referee doing very little for player protection.
Shout out for Finley Potter, appearing more assured with each game he plays and almost capping the performance with a goal.
Quick turnaround for the Bees as they head to Southend on Friday evening, the Essex side having settled their rather large tax bill and remain themselves in the hunt for a play-off spot.
