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Today's Edition for

4th August 1999

Today's Headlines

Stitch gives the shoot order

Michael Yarwood of the Oldham Evening Chronicle writes,

ANDY Ritchie has ordered his strikers to shoot on sight when Athletic tackle high-scoring Preston in Saturday's league curtain-raiser at Boundary Park. A lack of goals was Athletic's biggest fault during the long relegation battle, but Ritchie believes the problem could be solved with a more aggressive attacking policy. Mark Allott and Junior Agogo are expected to spearhead the quest for goals against a North End side whose tally of 78 last season was bettered only by champions Fulham.

And Ritchie, whose team managed only 48 in 46 games, said: "'I will never have a go at my players for taking a pop at goal.

"In fact, I give them stick because we have been too shot shy. "As a forward you thrive on confidence. If you notch one or two goals early on it can do wonders for you. "I was pleased Mark got on the scoresheet against Sheffield United on Saturday because it will be very good for his confidence. "I'm always on at him to shoot on sight, and the same goes for Junior.

"I want Junior to take the initiative a bit more, and that includes being direct and positive in front of goal." As one of Athletic's greatest-ever centre forwards, Ritchie knows a thing or two about finding the net. He is drumming the same message into teenagers Matthew Tipton and Ryan Sugden, both of whom can expect to be on the bench on Saturday.

Ritchie is aware that an improvement in service would also be a big help to the strikers' cause. He said: "we wanted more width this season and, with Neil Adams on the right. We do look more balanced. "It's the players who dictate the system and we didn't have anyone to do that job before Neil came. "He's also bringing Scott McNiven out of his shell at right-back, Scott feels confident playing with him, he's working up and down the line and he's talking more, which is good because we can be a bit of a semaphore side.

"We are getting in far more crosses as well. What we need now is for the first striker to get across the goalkeeper and flash across his line of vision. "Anything can happen when you cause confusion and it's surprising how many goals come from doing that."

Teamtalk Oldham Ritchie's big hope Andy Ritchie is confident that after a tricky first season in charge the Latics fortunes will be much improved this coming campaign. The Latics only beat the drop on the final day of last season and that's a situation Ritchie is more than keen to avoid.
Ritchie admits: "It was pretty hairy but I honestly felt that we would do it. I certainly knew we were good enough and, in the end, it was no more than we deserved."
The boss feels that they key to this season is consistency. Last year the Latics demonstrated what they are capable of by beating Manchester City at Maine Road and playing superbly at Fulham, unfortunately such performances were all too rare.
As Ritchie points out: "Those were a few of the positive things to come out of last season and that is what I will be looking for when the new campaign gets under way."
The boss concludes: "Last season we had to throw in youngsters and it was never easy for them in a struggling side, but I am sure they have learned from the experience and they will be better players.

Anyone interested in buying some old Latics programmes from the 60's and 70's let me know.

Contributions and letters should be sent to Gary Davies by e-mail at [email protected]The views expressed on this e-zine are not the views of Oldham Athletic F.C. nor necessarily the views of the EditorAny complaints will be dealt with swiftlyThe editor will not publish any letters containing bad languageThis e-zine is written using Microsoft Outlook Express

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