29th November 2000
29th November 2000 ATHLETIC defender Paul Jones has been hit by a one-match ban and will miss his side’s bid for FA Cup glory. Jones (22) has collected five yellow cards this season - two of them in reserve-team games - and must sit out the tie at Peterborough on Saturday week. He is the fourth Athletic player in three months to be ruled out by disciplinary problems, the others being Mark Hotte, Craig Dudley and, on two occasions, Shaun Garnett. Hotte is on his way back from a broken hand, so manager Andy Ritchie will have cover for Jones when the Liverpudlian serves his suspension. Peterborough booked their place in round two last night when they saw off Mansfield 4-0 in a replay at London Road. Barry Fry’s team will be a tough nut to crack, as Athletic found earlier this season during a 4-1 league defeat at Boundary Park.
Ritchie
is pinning his hopes on a victory, which would provide the chance of a
third-round pay-day for the cash-strapped club. He is aiming to bring in
a midfielder, but the financial climate means any signing would probably
be on loan. Last night’s reserve game
was postponed due to waterlogging at Stalybridge, leading to more frustration
for the players recovering from injury. Hotte,
Barry Prenderville and John Sheridan all need match action, but their progress
is being held up by the weather.
Latics' FA Cup
second round game against Peterborough United has been moved to Sunday
10th December at 3pm. The police were not prepared to sanction the game
to take place as scheduled on the Saturday due to a large animal rights
demonstration taking place in the area for which all police resources are
required with all police leave cancelled. The police at one stage were
wanting to have a Tuesday night or Friday night game but this was strongly
opposed by Latics and The FA.
Chief Executive
Alan Hardy said "There was no way I was going to agree to a night match
as this would have meant that our fans would have been seriously inconvenienced
and in the majority of cases they would not have been able to get to a
night match. I am pleased that we have received support from The FA to
play on Sunday where I hope that the majority of our fans will be able
to travel to the game". There is a total of 3,700 spaces available for
Latics fans at London Road, Peterborough and entry to the ground will be
by payment at the turnstiles on the day of the game, standing £10
adults £5 concessions, seats £12 adults £5 concessions.
Teamtalk
Oldham
Andy
Ritchie is still trying to set up a loan deal for an attacking midfielder
who can fill the gap left by Neil Adam's injury enforced lay-off. Adams
is out until the New Year with torn knee ligaments and Ritchie is desperately
searching for a stop gap measure. The boss has already drawn up a shortlist
and started making enquiries and confirmed: "There are quite a number of
players to choose from, but I won't be making a signing just for the sake
of it. It is a matter of getting the right man to suit our needs. These
things can take time and I don't know when there will be anything concrete."
Meanwhile the Latics are also prepared to let one or two of the players
go out on loan to give them some first team experience. Topping the list
is Matthew Tipton, who has been on the subs bench for most of the season.
The Welsh U-21 international is one of four strikers vying for two places
and he really needs an extended run at senior level. David Miskelly is
also keen to find some league action with another club. He is being kept
out by Gary Kelly and injury is his only hope of a first team place at
Boundary Park.
Trio
having treatment
Paul
Rickers, Tony Carss and Shaun Garnett are all expected to be ready in time
for Saturday's game against bottom side Oxford. All three have been struggling
with injury and have been receiving treatment all week but look well on
the road to making a full recovery. Rickers has a groin strain, Carss a
foot injury and Garnett a dead leg - all injuries picked up in last Saturday's
defeat by league leaders Millwall. The postponement of Tuesday night's
reserve match against Preston didn't help matters either as both Mark Hotte
and Barry Prenderville, who were hoping to prove their fitness had to sit
around kicking their heels instead. It was also a setback for John Sheridan
who is hoping to be ready for a comeback in time for the busy Christmas
period.
Official
Oldham Athletic Web Site
Peterborough
Evening Telegraph
AS Patrick Vieira
has won more peace prizes than Posh have won FA cup ties in recent seasons,
this handsome 4-0 win should have been a great excuse for a celebration
party. But manager Barry Fry, a man who used to bellow enough hot-air to
launch one of Branson’s balloons, ensures that all Posh feet remain firmly
on the ground these days. In the not too distant past he’d have tried to
guarantee some headlines by announcing an attempt to sign Roberto Carlos
on loan as a replacement for injury-victim Adam Drury, but last night he
was more concerned with slightly less exciting matters. “We did well,”
he started unpromisingly. “But this game’s gone now and we must improve
again to beat Wrexham on Saturday. It’s a strange old team that wins 4-0
and then sees its goalkeeper voted man-of-the-match, but that’s football
I suppose.”
As a match-assessment
one suspects it was vintage Bryan Robson, yet its tone was understandably
down-to-earth given the game he’d just witnessed. There’s no doubt Posh
deserved to win, but a late flurry of goals following some early brilliance
from ‘keeper Mark Tyler gave the final scoreline a lopsided look. In fact
there was a strange mood enveloping the contest all night. Two screaming
mobs of supporters provoked a rousing, passionate cup tie in the first
meeting 10 days ago, but last evening London Road did its best ‘ghost-town’
impression and received the flat, uninspired match it deserved. Mansfield,
who fielded a very inexperienced side, started brightly and should have
been two goals ahead inside 10 minutes. Both times top scorer Chris Greenacre
was the guilty party, although it took two fine saves from Tyler to keep
him off the scoresheet. Tyler stood up tall to parry when his opponent
had charged into the penalty area unchallenged and did even better when
saving a glancing header from six yards with his feet.
Posh, who started
with Francis Green alongside Jason Lee up front, offered little until Richard
Forsyth stabbed over the crossbar from close range following a cross from
Simon Rea and a clever chest-pass from Lee midway through the half, although
the same player was only denied a goal from distance a few minutes later
by a brilliant one-handed stop from Bobby Mimms. But on the half-hour Posh
struck as David Farrell’s deep cross was headed down by Lee for David Oldfield
to claim his first home goal with a left-foot drive from the edge of the
penalty area. Oldfield played most of the rest of the game at left-back
after Drury’s departure, but it was a change further forward which prompted
a much more impressive Posh performance after the interval. Andy Clarke,
who has the ability to appear sulky if he’s not the centre of attention,
swapped places with Green and the effect was startling, even if his finishing
initially suggested he’d started taking shooting lessons from Zeke Rowe.
Clarke sidefooted over the crossbar from 10 yards after some good set-up
play from Rea and then managed to miss from inside the six-yard box following
Farrell’s superb piece of wing-play, but just as another post-mortem on
his loss of form was being prepared, and after captain Andy Edwards had
climbed high to nod home his first goal of the season from Farrell’s corner
20 minutes from time, the Wembley hero smashed an unstoppable drive past
Mimms from 25 yards.
It was a magical
moment which should have eased any pressure on a 33-year-old who still
has plenty to offer Posh. It wasn’t the final act though as Farrell’s trickery
engineered another opening which lead to substitute Tony Shields netting
a fourth goal from close range. Farrell had a hand in three goals thus
continuing his superb run of form in front of watching Millwall manager
Mark McGhee.Whether or not the man running the second division table-toppers
is prepared to splash out a small fortune on a player of Farrell’s age
is open to question. But rumours that the speedy winger’s injury-record
has been faxed to the New Den in an attempt to scupper the deal have not
yet been confirmed. The one-time Aston Villa man had the cheek to suggest
he’s not been at the top of his game since hearing of Millwall’s interest,
but compared to a defence that still fails to promote even a suspicion
of total organisation and security, a centre of midfield which is tidy,
but horribly one-paced and a quality, yet erratic strike force, his has
been a season of complete reliability. Posh can’t afford to lose him, or
Drury, Tyler or Clarke, come to think of it.