14th August 2000   

Carlo fly's to Mexico

TRIUMPHANT Athletic will be ordered to keep their feet on the ground following Saturday’s spectacular 4-1 victory over Port Vale. Manager Andy Ritchie allowed his squad to enjoy their superb start to the season, but it was back down to hard graft today when the players returned for training.“We’ll probably live on that result for a couple of days,” Ritchie said. “It was an excellent way to start off. But we need to bring them back to earth quickly this week and make sure we get down to some serious business.” The next match is at Walsall on Saturday and Ritchie believes the Midlands side will be a stern test of Athletic’s promotion credentials. “Walsall have already shown what they can do — they came from two goals behind to beat Rotherham,” he explained. “We have to be ready because this will be one of our hardest games of the whole season.” 

Athletic must plan ahead without new signing Carlo Corazzin, who is on international duty with Canada. The striker — a scorer on his debut against Vale — flew to Mexico City for a World Cup qualifier yesterday and isn’t due back at Boundary Park until Thursday. Steve Whitehall (pictured, right) was a late withdrawal from Saturday’s match after picking up a painful toe injury in training. It was feared the 33-year-old had suffered a break, but he is now expected to make a quick recovery. Athletic are providing free transport to home reserve-team games this season, beginning with tomorrow’s opener against Wolves. The move comes after all Avon Insurance League matches were switched to Stalybridge Celtic to help protect the Boundary Park pitch. Barlows coach leaves the rear of the Ellen Group Stand at 6.10 pm, picking up at Pentagon Vauxhall, Park Road (6.15), and the junction of Abbeyhills Road and Lees New Road (6.20). It returns from Bower Fold at 9 pm and the service will continue as long as there is enough demand.

ONLY 90 minutes into a marathon season, Athletic have already made their intentions crystal clear. It’s one thing to make a flying start, quite another to demolish your opponents with a four-goal feast which has play-off potential written all over it. Although it’s ridiculously early to make predictions, Athletic staged a performance to leave the rest of division two casting nervous glances towards Boundary Park. Promotion is the target. And, on this brief evidence, Andy Ritchie has assembled a team with the scope, experience and talent to achieve that lofty ambition. What a contrast to last season, when Athletic led a pointless existence for the first five games and spent the rest of the campaign making up for lost time. This was the biggest league win of Ritchie’s managerial life and, with Carlo Corazzin scoring on his debut, the bandwagon is dusted down and ready to roll. The standard has now been set — and maintaining this kind of level will prove virtually impossible over a 46-game season. It’s also worth considering that Vale were pretty awful.

Yet confidence is sky-high and, though no-one should get carried away, that fact alone will be of enormous benefit as Athletic try to establish themselves among the front-runners in the division. Once the early nerves had disappeared, they settled into an impressive pattern of fluent, stylish passing. Crucially, they were able to keep possession for long spells thanks to Mark Allott and, in particular, the influential Corazzin. With their twin strikers holding the ball so well, Athletic could move out wide when the wing-backs were well advanced, rather than asking them to deliver crosses from poor positions. It made all the difference as Neil Adams revelled in the service he received and tormented sorry Vale with a series of pinpoint centres. Adams looked fit and fresh in his first league game since February, highlighting how vital it can be to have a reliable supply line from the flanks. The veteran gave marker Michael Twiss a torrid time on his Vale debut, scoring the opener and having a hand in each of the other three goals. Andrew Holt was in fine form on the left, while the midfield trio — especially the tireless Paul Rickers — never shirked a challenge. Allott and Corazzin combined well, the shape was good, the finishing was clinical . . . . other than getting caught out for the visitors’ consolation goal, it was the kind of display Ritchie must have dreamed of on the eve of a new season.

The manager surprisingly left out Craig Dudley from his squad of 16 in a sign of the extra competition now among the forwards at Boundary Park. Corazzin and Allott continued their promising partnership up front, with Matthew Tipton preferred as back-up. The first chance of 2000/2001 fell to defender Shaun Garnett, who headed over after nine minutes from the first of Adams’ crosses. The visitors had a clear opening when Jeff Minton ran through at Gary Kelly, only to be caught in two minds and fail to either lob the ’keeper or shoot with any accuracy. John Sheridan curled a free-kick just wide and it was an even contest early on, with little hint of the drubbing to come. Penetration was lacking until the 27th minute when a long throw — so often the source of Athletic’s attacking threat — saw Corazzin head wide when he should have hit the target. Two minutes later, however, Athletic’s increasing dominance was converted into tangible reward as they grabbed the lead thanks to the work of their wing-backs. Holt cut inside on to his right foot and swung a deep cross into a penalty area which was hardly over-populated with strikers. Seeing the space, Adams darted in on the blind side of Twiss before hitting a sweet first-time volley into the bottom corner from 10 yards. The breakthrough sent belief coursing through Athletic’s veins and Vale were suddenly unable to break out of their own half.

They cracked again after 36 minutes when Adams turned provider with a deftly-floated corner from the right. Garnett helped it on, leaving hesitant goalkeeper Mark Goodlad stranded, and Allott celebrated his new contract by nodding home from three yards. Vale could have replied before the break when Ville Viljanen’s header gave Kelly his first serious test in the home goal. And they made a bigger impact in the 67th minute thanks to a sharp move down the left inspired by Michael Cummins and the experienced Tony Naylor. Cummins crossed low and, after Twiss brought a stunning save from Kelly, the same man was on hand to lash home the rebound from close range. Yet Vale’s hope was extinguished in a flash as Athletic blasted into a 4-1 lead with two goals in three minutes. First, an Adams cross found Holt charging in at the far post to force Goodlad into a desperate block. The ball broke kindly for Corazzin, who bundled in from a couple of yards to the joy of his rapidly-growing fan club. Athletic still weren’t finished. And, from their next attack, they ensured this would be the biggest opening-day victory for six years.

Adams, yet again, provided the assist with a corner from the right. And, as Vale’s hapless defence stood rooted, Garnett’s near-post header found the net with the help of a heavy deflection. The visitors’ hearts were in their boots, giving Athletic a chance to indulge in some untroubled practice for their pass-and-move game. It almost brought a fifth goal through Corazzin’s header, Allott’s drive and Corazzin’s free-kick. The fans’ reception spoke volumes, as did the grins on the players’ faces as they emerged from the dressing room for their warm-down routine. The first mission had been accomplished. Now the hard work really begins.

ANDY RITCHIE was jubilant after Athletic’s opening salvo — but also warned that complacency must not be allowed to set in. While Port Vale boss Brian Horton looked stunned by his team’s capitulation, Ritchie was delighted to launch the season with a bang. “There were some great performances,” he said. “It was vital that we didn’t lose — that’s the most important thing at the start — and to play as we did and score four goals was excellent. “After the start we had last year, the first hurdle was to get a point and a goal under our belts. “It’s nice to get this confidence boost and I hope we can keep up the level of consistency. “We took the game to them, which is what I wanted after the problems we had at home last season. “But we did it very well. We weren’t over-exuberant and we didn’t just crash everyone into the box. “I couldn’t really single people out, but I was pleased Carlo Corazzin got a goal because he should have had one in the two pre-season games he played last week. “He is a quality international striker and he was so determined to score he took everything except the kitchen sink over the line with him. “Neil Adams also did very well. He tends to be remembered here as a marauding winger, but that has changed to a wing-back role and people don’t realise how much defending he does.”

But Ritchie also stressed that Athletic’s victory was just one step on a treacherous road to success. He said: “Although we are very pleased, we aren’t going overboard. There’s a long, long way to go. “There are still things to work on, including with the back three. “They did very well, but I was disappointed with the goal we conceded — we paid for our only lapse in concentration. “One or two of the players have set standards for themselves and I’ll be jumping on them if they don’t keep that up. “We have some tough games coming up, so we certainly aren’t counting any chickens.”

Many Vale fans began the season by jeering their team. And Horton admitted: “It was a bad way to start. We didn’t even get the basics right. “The buck stops with me and I expect more than that. We need to have a close look at ourselves.”

What kept you sane (I won't say 'stopped you from tearing your hair out' for obvious reasons) last season when you managed to have time away from Boundary Park ?] Which of his many goals for the Latics does he consider his best whilst playing for Athletic. (My favourite, which brightened a long trip back from the South coast was the second equaliser at the Dell, Littlewoods cup run 1990). Given the poor English showing at Euro 2000, particularly the kick and rush tactics employed and the apparent lack of on the ball skills, are there any plans at BP to try to get players to pass the ball with comfort over short distances to players on their side? If we manage to gain promotion this season, either directly, or via the payoffs. Can we realistically hope to survive in the 1st division, without a great deal of money being made available to bring in the quality players now needed in that division? Where in your opinion does Oldham Athletic stand alongside other clubs in the north west area with so big a gap between themselves and the two Manchester teams with their crowd pulling ability? To be able to compete for players and on the commercial front would require a very large influx of capital from somebody or someone! So can we only ever hope for a successful first division status or is there any realistic potential or opportunity for the club to challenge once again for a role in the Premiership?.Who are the best young prospects the club have (who have yet to play in the first team)?Don't you think that the Oldham Squad is very young? I know that you want to push the youngster through, but they should have older team-mates to learn a bit further. Do you agree?