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to today's issue of
BOUNDARY
BULLET-zine
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Oldham Athletic Supporters
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Today's
Edition for
23rd April 2000
Welcome to new subscribers
in Roundthorn (Oldham) and New Zealand
Today's
Headlines
Thom's
goal only success for Latics
Cardiff
win at Boundary Park
Sports.com Cardiff
defied their lowly league position to post a deserved victory at Boundary
Park and give themselves a great chance of Second Division survival. A
fourth away win of the season was sealed by Paul Grayson - on loan from
Reading - who was overjoyed with his first league goal for two years. The
Bluebirds are now out of the bottom four and have a game in hand on their
rivals. They inflicted a tenth home defeat on Oldham, who were booed off
by their disillusioned fans. Oldham thought they were in front after seven
minutes when visiting goalkeeper Seamus Kelly dropped Craig Dudley's high
cross and Scott McNiven tapped in. But referee Richard Beedy, rather harshly,
penalised Stuart Thom for a foul on the keeper, Cardiff responded well
to their escape and Richard Carpenter shot just wide from 25 yards.
Oldham,
however, grabbed the lead after 15 minutes through Thom, their defender
turned striker who was their one real success. The attack began with a
rapid burst by Dudley and, when the resulting corner was turned back in,
Steve Whitehall's flick gave Thom a six -yard tap-in at the far post. Cardiff
refused to lie down and were the better side without creating chances until
Jason Bowen bagged a brilliant equaliser in the 44th minute. When the ball
was played in from the Cardiff right, Kevin Nugent touched a clever back-heel
across the box. It was met by the onrushing Bowen, who smashed a rising
first-time pile-driver into the net from 12 yards. Bowen went close with
a curling free-kick just after the break and Cardiff's momentum proved
unstoppable when they completed their comeback after 51 minutes.
The
goal came when Willy Boland slid the ball into a ruck of players on the
edge of the box. Brayson controlled, turned neatly and sent a low shot
through goalkeeper David Miskelly's legs from almost on the penalty spot.
After 59 minutes there was a change in fortune for Brayson as he was booked
for diving when he claimed Andy Holt had brought him down in the area.
Cardiff were still superior to their dishevelled hosts and Miskelly had
to palm away Bowen's 20-yarder. There was a scare for the visitors after
74 minutes when a rare Oldham chance saw Thom plant a header too close
to the keeper. Cardiff again responded well and could have had a penalty
when Holt seem to pull back Bowen. Shaun Garnett headed over for Oldham,
but Brayson's late chance was the best of the closing stages.
| Final
Results |
| Oldham |
1 |
Cardiff |
2 |
Name,
Minutes
Thom, 15 |
Name,
Minutes
Bowen, 44
Brayson, 51 |
| Yellow
Cards |
Name, Minutes
Hotte, 2
dissent |
|
Name, Minutes
Brayson, 59
unsporting behaviour |
| Red
Cards |
Name, Minutes
No Red Cards |
|
Name, Minutes
No Red Cards |
| Match
Stats |
| 5 |
Goal
Attempts |
13 |
| 3 |
(On
Target) |
5 |
| 0 |
(Bar/Post) |
0 |
| 18 |
Fouls |
10 |
| 5 |
Offsides |
7 |
| 5 |
Corners |
7 |
|
| Match
Squads & Ratings |
| 3 stars
(out of 5) |
| Oldham |
Cardiff |
G 1. Miskelly
- 6
D 2. Jones - 6
D 3. Garnett - 6
M 4. Hotte
- 5
F 5. Dudley - 7
D 6. Duxbury - 6
D 7. Salt
- 5
D 8. McNiven, S - 5
D 9. Thom - 8
F 10. Whitehall
- 5
G 11. Kelly |
G 1. Kelly -
6
2. Faerber - 7
D 3. Eckhardt - 7
F 4. Young - 7
M 5. Legg - 7
M 6. Bowen - 8
M 7. Bonner - 7
M 8. Carpenter - 7
M 9. Boland - 8
F 10. Brayson - 8
F 11. Nugent - 7 |
| Substitutes |
Substitutes |
M 4. Graham
(50) - 5
D 7. Boshell
(68) - 5
F 10. Sugden
(83)
12. Futcher |
12. Brazier
13. Hill
14. Nogan
15. Phillips
16. Jennings |
| *Players
ranked from 4 (lowest) to 10 (highest) |
| Referee:
R. J. Beeby |
|
|
Teamtalk
Oldham
Oldham
victims of Cardiff's fighting spirit
Stuart
Thom's opener only acted as a prelude to a spirited Cardiff fightback as
Oldham succumbed to a 2-1 defeat. The difference between the two teams
could have been the simple fact that Oldham had nothing concrete to play
for, but stand-in striker Thom justly opened the scoring after earlier
being responsible for a disallowed goal. Scott McNiven thought he'd given
Athletic the lead only for the referee to award a free-kick for a foul
committed by Thom on Cardiff 'keeper Seamus Kelly, as the central defender
attempted to meet Craig Dudley's eighth minute cross. Seven minutes later
Cardiff were punished for their failure to clear a corner sufficiently
and once Lee Duxbury prodded the ball back into the danger zone, the writing
was on the wall as Shaun Garnett diverted the ball towards the far post.
There, Thom applied the decisive touch to give Oldham the lead. Cardiff's
response was immediate but the visitors were restricted to a couple of
speculative, long-range efforts from Richard Carpenter. One was driven
well wide of the upright and the other caused David Miskelly no problems
as he made an easy save. Midway through the first half, Cardiff visibly
stepped up a gear as they seemed to remember the precarious position they
still find themselves in. Slowly they began to assert a degree of authority
on the game and inevitably the equaliser came on the stroke of half-time
courtesy of Jason Bowen. The
goal itself was a direct result of some intricate interplay between Bowen
and Kevin Nugent. Ultimately, Nugent should be given huge credit for the
manner in which he placed perfect weight on his back-heeled pass into the
path of Bowen, who applied the finish the move deserved. The second-half
commenced as the first ended with the visitors taking the lead courtesy
of on-loan striker Paul Brayson. The home crowd had already endured one
particularly anxious moment courtesy of what appeared to be a Garnett
handball. However, the majority of Boundary Park were soon left horrified
at Oldham's failure to deal adequately with Andy Legg's cross from the
right hand side. Their fears were justified when the ball fell to Brayson
who squeezed the ball under the body of David Miskelly. Brayson was booked
for diving as he sought the penalty which could have established an unassailable
3-1 lead. The lead could have been legitimately extended nine minutes from
time when another piece of exemplary Nugent - Bowen interplay came to nothing.
Two minutes later the hosts staged one further push for an equaliser when
Garnett rose to meet Whitehall's dangerous free-kick, but to City's relief,
the ball flew inches over the bar. The eventual final whistle was greeted
with huge sighs of relief from the Cardiff personnel and prompted delirium
among the healthy number of travelling supporters. Andy Ritchie meanwhile
must reflect on a week which has seen his team lose twice at home and attempt
a more fruitful conclusion to the season.
ESPN Soccernet Relegation
threatened Cardiff grabbed a survival lifeline at Oldham with only their
fourth away win of the season. The Bluebirds, who were only promoted last
season, had to come from behind to pick up three precious points at Boundary
Park. Oldham had gone in front after 15 minutes when Stuart Thom shot home
from six yards for only his second goal of the season. But Cardiff bounced
back to equalise one minute before the break with a well-taken goal from
Jason Bowen. The second half was only six minutes old when Paul Brayson
grabbed the winner to leave Oldham with only one win in four games.
Sporting
Life Second-half
goals by Jason Roberts and veteran Mark Walters gave Bristol Rovers their
first win in seven games at the expense of in-form local rivals Bristol
City at the Memorial Ground.
Roberts notched
his 21st goal of the season in the 53rd minute before Walters wrapped the
game up 16 minutes later. Rovers now move up to third place.
The champagne
is on ice at Deepdale where Preston's 1-0 win over Scunthorpe made automatic
promotion almost a certainty. Brett Angell scored the only goal of the
game in the 42nd minute to keep Preston eight points clear of their nearest
rivals.
Wigan remain
in second place after Neil Redfearn's 34th-minute penalty gave them a 1-0
home win over Reading. They remain two points clear of Bristol Rovers,
who are also chasing the second automatic promotion spot.
Burnley's 4-3
win over Millwall at Turf Moor ensured the Lancashire side leapfrogged
over their South London rivals into fourth place.
Burnley stormed
into a 4-0 lead within the hour mark thanks to goals from Ian Cox, Andrew
Cooke, Steve Davis and Paul Cook. However two goals in two minutes by Millwall's
Neil Harris followed by a third from Tim Cahill made it a tense final three
minutes for the home crowd.
Gillingham moved
into fifth place after a 2-0 home win over mid-table Luton, goals in each
half by Andy Hessenthaler and Nicky Southall doing the damage, while Stoke
maintained their hopes of a play-off place thanks to a 1-0 win over Bournemouth,
Peter Thorne the scorer.
At the bottom
Cambridge failed to put distance between themselves and their fellow strugglers,
going down 3-1 at Colchester with Chris Keeble scoring the home side's
decisive third.
Chesterfield
were relegated following their 3-0 home defeat against Wrexham, a Carl
Connolly hat-trick taking the points for the Welshmen.
Oxford remain
fifth to bottom following their 1-1 draw at home against Brentford, Derek
Lilley giving them the lead four minutes before half-time only for Lloyd
Owusu to equalise straight after the break.
Cardiff improved
their chances of survival thanks to a 2-1 win at Oldham. Goals in each
half by Jason Bowen and Paul Brayson sealed the points after Stuart Thom
had given Oldham a 15th minute lead.
However Blackpool
look doomed after a last minute Adrian Littlejohn goal gave 10-man Bury
a 3-2 win at Gigg Lane. Andy Preece scored twice to put Bury 2-0 up before
goals by Wayne Gill and Mike Newell looked to have salvaged a point for
the visitors.
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