On The Road Again

Oldham make the short hop to Birkenhead this evening in a bid to salvage much needed points in what has been a mixed week in terms of the back to back away fixtures.

First for the Latics it was the trip down to Nottingham Forest in a bid to defy the odds and come away with crucial away points from The City Ground. The game ended 0-0 after both sides had chances to win the game and in the end a draw was a fair result in front of a noisy travelling army from Oldham joined by 16,000 Forest fans.

Then Latics then faced the unenviable task of making the long journey south to Brisbane Road, Leyton Orient, a side that had performed well above the mark of expectation so far this season under highly rated young manager Martin Ling. Ling had guided Orient to a promising top half of the table in and around the play-off spots early on, once topping the table. However Latics travelled with renewed optimism after gaining a worthy point at fellow high flyers Forest midweek, a result that left Sheridan pleased and hopeful of gaining yet more away points in the capital on Saturday afternoon. It wasn't to be however, Latics tumbled to their 6^th 1-0 league defeat of the season after going behind on the 8^th minute, after some fantastic enthusiasm from the Orient front line and supporting midfield it was Charlie Daniels for the O's who finished with aplomb, to send Latics crashing down with misery after yet another disappointing 1-0 turnaround.

Sheridan commented after the match that he knew what the problem was, "we can't score gaols" an opinion shared by most of the Oldham fans who travelled to London. This led to further speculation that the club would be bringing in another forward on loan in the coming days, fuelled by the shock loaning out of target man Michael Rickets to his boyhood team, Walsall. Rickets' move was sudden given the amount of stick he endured when Oldham made the trip to the midlands recently before romping home terrific 3-0 winners, one again sparking rumours of player unrest involving the England capped man and his fellow Latics team mates.

However, Oldham go into the clash this evening without the signature of a new loan forward, against a Tranmere side who have made somewhat steady progress this season under ex Latic's boss Ronnie Moore.

The Birkenhead club opened the season with a 1-2 home defeat against Leeds United, a result which would prove not uncommon for the Yorkshire club in coming moths, despite being handed a severe battering by the FA for their financial situation closed season. Tranmere were then on the end of an away Carling cup defeat at Latics' near rivals Stockport County. Tranmere may have started the season with 2 defeats out of 2 but Moore's men turned it around after a key 2-0 victory in Kent over Gillingham. This result set the foundations for a 9 game unbeaten run in the league, which rocketed Tranmere into serious contenders for promotion by the media early on. Going into the crunch match against Latics, Ronnie Moore's side are sitting in 6^th place in League 1 following a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Nottingham Forest at the weekend, a result that will surely give Sheridan's men confidence given Latics' deserved point a week ago at Forest. 12 points currently separate the two clubs, although Latics do have a game in hand against Swindon Town.