16th December 2000
16th December 2000 It came as no surprise then when Andy Ritchie's men took the lead. The breakthrough came after 27 minutes when the ever-dangerous Eyres floated an excellent free kick into the area, where Danny Boshell reacted quickest to power a header past Kenny for his first goal of the season. It was former Oldham hitman Adrian Littlejohn, who came on as a second-half substitute for Bury, who grabbed this game by the scruff of the neck and led a much improved second half performance by the Shakers. The equaliser came on 56 minutes as Paul Reid silenced the Oldham Boo Boys after his free kick was headed back into the area by Collins and veteran striker Paul Barnes crashed home a spectacular shot that flew past Kelly.
This proved to be the spark for the home side as they piled the pressure on for their Lancashire neighbours. Littlejohn shot wide after good work from Billy down the right on 74 minutes and it was Billy himself who could have stolen all the points for Bury deep into injury time as manager Andy Preece's shot was parried by ex-Bury keeper Gary Kelly, but only as far as Billy eight yards out, who scooped his shot over the bar. Oldham themselves came close after 85 minutes, when Eyres floated a cross towards Shaun Garnett at the back post, who just couldn't get enough on the header to find the target.
Off the pitch, the 5,000 strong crowd will go someway to help the cash-strapped Shakers, who were holding their very own SOS, Save Our Shakers, appeal before each home game with Chairman Terry Robinson himself requesting donations in front of the Gigg Lane Gate to help with the day to day operation of running the football club.
Teamtalk Oldham
A superb strike by Paul Barnes cancelled out Danny Boshell's earlier effort as Bury earned a 1-1 draw against Oldham at Gigg Lane this afternoon. Oldham started the brighter of the two sides and had it not been for the woodwork the Latics would have taken the lead. Craig Dudley saw his close range shot come back off the post after Carlo Corazzin had put in the cross before an David Eyres cross deceived Shakers 'keeper Paddy Kenny and bounced off the crossbar. Oldham broke the deadlock on 18 minutes when Eyres whipped in a free-kick and Danny Boshell rose unmarked to head home from 12 yards. Bury had the ball in the back of the net midway through the first half but Paul Reid's volley was ruled out for offside, but Oldham thoroughly deserved their half-time lead. After the break Bury looked far more lively and they got back on level term just 10 minutes after the re-start thanks to fine bicycle kick by Paul Barnes. It came after Sam Collins flicked on a free-kick by Reid and Barnes's finished to level matters. Chances were few and far between as the game wore on but Bury could have nicked all three points at the death when Chris Billy and Steve Redmond were presented with good opportunities. Unfortunately for the Shakers the duo could only blast their shots over the bar and Oldham took a share of the points back to Boundary Park.
Shakers on Line
First things first. Some surprising team selections. Lee Unsworth, who has put barely a foot wrong whenever he has played, out; Chris Armstrong, on the bench after an excellent debut last week; Nicky Hill nowhere to be seen, Sam Collins who had a poor game in the reserves in midweek, IN. Bury kicked off playing 5-3-2 with Billy and Reid at wing back, Daws Jarrett and Forrest in midfield with Fozzy playing the anchor role, which is a silly waste of his ability.
Oldham in the first 20 minutes ran Bury ragged, were 2 yards sharper, passed the ball around quickly, won every tackle. well actually there weren't any tackles to win as Bury were too slow to get to the ball. You would have thought that Friday night was the Christmas "do" so far off the pace were we. So no surprise then that Oldham hit the woodwork twice in the opening encounters and missed a simple chance to capitalise on an alarming overlap situation. Big Sam looked like he had eaten a fair few pies in his absence and was caught for pace with embarrassing ease a few times.
Redders was adjudged to have committed a foul on the Oldham left after half an hour or so, and David Eyres cross was well met by Danny Boshell who headed cleanly into the corner from some 15 yards....er..excuse me defence, but what were you doing at this point in time ???
You could well have predicted a 0-3 scoreline at this point, and, though Preecey didn't think we were so bad, he is probably the only watcher who held that point of view. I thought we were dire. Unable to win the ball, unable to pass the ball, one shot on goal; a shambles. Still, as Andy Hill commented, they were playing 4-4-2, we had 5 at the back, they had an extra man in the middle all the time.
Young Smudger Smith is an enthusiastic tryer, (but is he any better than Danny would have been at centre forward ?) and suffered concussion and was replaced at half time by Littlejohn. The enigmatic Littlejohn is best employed as an out and out left winger, and to some extent that is how he played second half, twisting and turning defenders inside out and the second period was to be fair a different story.
The half time tea must have had some special ingredient, and though we didn't play particularly good football, we were at least "up for it" and showed some passion. Reid responded well to the verbal's which he received in good dosage from the goodly number of travelling Latics fans. Interestingly Daws and Forrest seemed to swap roles with Dawsy holding the anchor for the latter part of the half and this was better. Paul Barnes must be a nightmare (I was a defender) to play against, very awkward, lots of arse and elbows, and he has, lets be fair, been very creative in recent weeks despite the poor results.
He got his reward today with an excellently taken strike, almost an overhead kick, and at the Cemmy End, is there no end to the number of goals at that end ?? Bury continued to dominate affairs , and as you would expect Barnes was taken off.......Preece bringing himself into the fray....Somehow or another Billy, who had had a poor outing at wing back, managed to fire over the bar from, oooh 5 or 6 yards following good work from the gaffer. Redmond in the dying moments hit a fine volley just over from 18 yards as the Shakers searched for their first win bonus in 10 games......so good news there Terry eh, at least we have saved on bonus money !!
Former manager Stan Ternent and son were in attendance along with former skipper Chris Lucketti....ah it all seems so long ago that we were not turned over by many and the club was going forward to Championship success and one comfortable season in the sun, (followed by a very uncomfortable season).
On reflection,
a defining moment in our history was the departure of Ternent and Ellis,
in much the same way as the Pointer fiasco was in the 60's....it was not
so much the fact of the departure, as the loss of credibility as an ambitious
football club. We were, of course, not at that stage to know of the Eaves
situation, but you will recall how much lower the attendance's were in
the second season of division one following Ternent's' departure. To allow
your most successful manager to leave sent out bad "Pointers" ...perhaps
with the benefit of hindsight (which would have made all of our own lives
more successful,) the Board should have gone public on Eaves at the time.
Ternent reckoned he needed a half million at the end of that first season,
to make us play off contenders in division one......we were that close
to the big time !!.
Sporting Life Saturday review
Millwall replaced Walsall at the top of Division Two after beating the Saddlers 2-0 at The New Den. Canadian international Marc Bircham opened the scoring against this morning's league leaders, slamming home from 12 yards after being set up by Richard Sadlier. The Lions doubled their lead two minutes after the restart when Steven Reid swept past visiting keeper James Walker following a move involving Neil Harris and Paul Ifill.
Wigan are second, but only on goal difference, after they beat Wycombe 2-1. Simon Haworth had put the home side ahead inside the opening five minutes only for Steve Brown to hit a shock equaliser for Wanderers. But Neil Roberts popped up with five minutes remaining to put Wigan into the automatic promotion places.
Walsall slip to third as a result of their defeat in London, with Rotherham also falling out of the top two after they went down 2-1 at Swindon. Former Nottingham Forest winger Ian Woan opened the scoring for the Wiltshire club. And despite the Millers hitting back through Guy Branston, they were undone by the winner shortly into the second half from Danny Invincible.
Reading are fifth after losing 3-2 at Notts County. On-loan Danny Allsopp scored twice - including a last-minute winner at Meadow Lane.
Bristol City hang onto sixth place by virtue of their 2-1 win at Port Vale, with another former Manchester City player, Lee Peacock, scoring twice and also claiming a late winner - this time from the penalty spot.
Peter Thorne hit a hat-trick as Stoke, in seventh, boosted their play-off hopes with a 3-0 win at Bristol Rovers.
Elsewhere, Jermaine Defoe - on loan from West Ham - found the net again in Bournemouth's 2-0 win over Swansea, Colchester hammered lowly Luton 3-0 at Kenilworth Road, and Kevin Russell hit the winner as Wrexham beat Brentford 2-1 at the Racecourse.
Bottom club Oxford enjoyed a fruitful day, beating Northampton 3-1 at the Manor Ground, while Bury and Oldham drew 1-1 at Gigg Lane.
Express Sportlive league table
| Nationwide Football League, Division Two | ||||||||
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | GD | |
| Millwall | 21 | 13 | 3 | 5 | 40 | 19 | 42 | 21 |
| Wigan | 21 | 11 | 9 | 1 | 29 | 17 | 42 | 12 |
| Walsall | 21 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 37 | 21 | 41 | 16 |
| Rotherham | 21 | 12 | 4 | 5 | 37 | 26 | 40 | 11 |
| Reading | 20 | 11 | 2 | 7 | 42 | 25 | 35 | 17 |
| Bristol City | 21 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 34 | 19 | 34 | 15 |
| Stoke | 20 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 33 | 23 | 33 | 10 |
| Wycombe | 21 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 21 | 20 | 30 | 1 |
| Wrexham | 21 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 32 | 34 | 29 | -2 |
| Peterborough | 21 | 8 | 4 | 9 | 24 | 26 | 28 | -2 |
| Northampton | 20 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 22 | 24 | 28 | -2 |
| Colchester | 21 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 21 | 21 | 27 | 0 |
| Notts County | 20 | 8 | 3 | 9 | 24 | 33 | 27 | -9 |
| Brentford | 19 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 22 | 30 | 26 | -8 |
| Bournemouth | 20 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 31 | 24 | 25 | 7 |
| Cambridge Utd | 21 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 30 | 31 | 25 | -1 |
| Bury | 20 | 7 | 4 | 9 | 19 | 28 | 25 | -9 |
| Bristol Rovers | 20 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 24 | 23 | 23 | 1 |
| Oldham | 20 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 23 | 32 | 23 | -9 |
| Swindon | 21 | 6 | 5 | 10 | 21 | 38 | 23 | -17 |
| Port Vale | 19 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 22 | 26 | 20 | -4 |
| Swansea | 20 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 19 | 27 | 19 | -8 |
| Luton | 20 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 20 | 36 | 15 | -16 |
| Oxford Utd | 21 | 3 | 2 | 16 | 22 | 46 | 11 | -24 |
LDV Trophy Draw
Northern Section
Lincoln City v Blackpool
Bury v Kidderminster Harriers
Port Vale or Notts County v Chester City
Hartlepool United v Doncaster Rovers
Halifax Town v Stoke City
Chesterfield v Macclesfield Town
Walsall v Oldham Athletic or Wigan Athletic
York City or Darlington v Shrewsbury
Southern Section
Hereford United or Yeovil Town v Reading
Millwall v Swindon Town
Leyton Orient v Wycombe Wanderers
Brighton v Brentford
Bournemouth v Swansea City
Southend United v Cambridge United
Bristol Rovers v Plymouth Argyle
Peterborough United v Barnet
Ties to be played week commencing 8 January.