The Latics slipped to another defeat at Crewe to send another shiver up and down the spines of all Latics fans. Nicky Maynard got two goals and although Richie Wellens (pictured) pulled one back later on it would have been unjust if the visitors would have come away with anything after another lack lustre performance. Luckily Carlisle lost but Swindon won and it looks like it's going to go to the last game of the season. It's never easy being an Oldham fan!John Sheridan is trying to get his team playing and is also trying different permutations but none of it is working. He told the official site, "If Paul Warne's shot goes in instead of hitting the bar then it's probably a different game. Then we go and do our usual and let in a goal that was a real comedy of errors. We didn't deserve anything, and Crewe could have gone on to be three or four up before we got one back. I'm learning and sussing things out big time, and let's say I know what I need for next season. We're still in with a chance but we're very lucky to have that chance and we don't deserve to be in this position."
"I changed my formation for the first time in nearly 30 games and went 3-5-2 to try and play Crewe at their own game, and it looked good in training but just didn't work today. You've got to get the ball down and pass it quickly, and we didn't do that. The only player I can really give any credit to is Paul Edwards. He gave us some effort, especially in the first half but as a group we were very disappointing. When that goal went in you could see everyone's heads drop, fans and players, and then we're on a downer. We can't keep giving teams one and two goal starts, and we must improve one hell of a lot if we're going to make the play-offs. Now we have to get nothing less than six points from our last two games, and that means going down to Brighton next week and winning. I'll go back to the drawing board and try to pick the best side I can for next Saturday's game."
Shez's counterpart Dario Gradi told their club's official website, "The players were good, I enjoyed the game, I didn't enjoy last weeks. I couldn't understand what they were doing last week. They were just hitting the ball and lobbing it in the air. From a very early stage this week, it made a big difference the back players passing the ball out and the midfield players trying to do something on the ball. They started off with a weird 3-5-2 formation but we were getting through quite easily I thought, in fact that was the story of the afternoon. I love teams that play that offside, as long as it's not mine, because sooner or later somebody gets it wrong and the linesman got at least one wrong against us but eventually they crack! That gave us plenty of chances and we should have wrapped the game up, Nicky should have wrapped the game up before he did, but he was fine, it was nice to see him back to his best form. I thought he played well together with Ryan. Ryan did misplace a lot of passes and the crowd was getting on him but he was the one that was making the passes, he makes that difference up there."
"If I play Luke and Nicky then I have to play Ryan somewhere anyway to play them in so it's nice to have that thought to deal with and then of course I thought we'd shoot ourselves in the foot. The last thing I said was 'don't give the fouls away', that's always my worry, it was my worry when they scored and they were a bit fortunate with the ball coming out to them. I then thought we would be in for our usual anxious last twelve minutes, but we weren't particularly I thought we looked fairly comfortable. Danny Woodards was very tired, and I thought he might not have been able to keep up with their winger, who was quick and after being booked in the first hald he might have got sent off. We didn't expect him to play 90 minutes, and Luke came from nowhere. He only trained with me for the first time yesterday and I didn't even expect to be thinking about him but he was good. He was very good yesterday, so I thought why wait a week, put him on the bench!"