The second half degenerated into a scrappy affair with neither side able to stamp their authority on proceedings. Danny Whitaker replaced Parker and Kieran Lee replaced Jon Worthington in an attempt to spruce things up but it was Swindon who took the initiative with just seven minutes left on the clock. A free kick was awarded some 40 yards out and McGovern pounced by placing his shot over the Athletic wall to bring the visitors level. Dean Brill was somewhat at fault with his poor positioning but credit must be given for the quality of the strike. With two minutes of injury time gone Swindon took the lead after another disasterous slip by Reuben Hazell, he is gaining quite a reputation for these inadequacies, let in Paynter who had no difficulty in beating Brill.
The goal was a killer punch and one which made many of the home faithfuls leave their seats and head for the door. Those that did leave missed a weird equaliser which was at least five minutes into added on time. Substitute Lee sent over a speculative centre-cum-shot which looped over Lucas in the Swindon goals and went into the net via the back post. It was a bizarre finish to a run of the mill game which left many of the Oldham faithful dejected again and asking the question why Dave Penney is bringing in forwards and midfielders when it is blatently obvious that the team is crying out for mid defensive cover.
The manager told Latics Player, "You can do all the training in the world, but you can't defend against individual errors. We feel we should have taken all three points today and we need to be more ruthless in killing teams off, especially at home." Alex Marrow added, "I'm happy to have my first league goal, I'm enjoying being here and I'm looking forward to the next game now."