The only real chance of the half for the Latics was a Vernon header after 20 minutes which was woefully inadequate. The only positives to come out of the first half was the incessant running of Jermain Johnson who put in a very useful 45 minutes and in the process he carved out many goalscoring chances which his lack luster colleages failed to capitulate on. It was soon 2-0 to the visitors as Sam bagged his second after woefully inadequate marking from the Oldham defence. As the teams trudged off the field at half time the home fans sent a barrage of boos towards their players, a barrage which was totally justified after the poor first half performance. Arber, a player so highly rated by manager Brian Talbot, was one of the main culprits in a terrible defensive performance.
Oldham Athletic 2 Wrexham 3
The only real chance of the half for the Latics was a Vernon header after 20 minutes which was woefully inadequate. The only positives to come out of the first half was the incessant running of Jermain Johnson who put in a very useful 45 minutes and in the process he carved out many goalscoring chances which his lack luster colleages failed to capitulate on. It was soon 2-0 to the visitors as Sam bagged his second after woefully inadequate marking from the Oldham defence. As the teams trudged off the field at half time the home fans sent a barrage of boos towards their players, a barrage which was totally justified after the poor first half performance. Arber, a player so highly rated by manager Brian Talbot, was one of the main culprits in a terrible defensive performance.
Beharall and Boshell replaced Vernon and Appleby for the start of the second half and Boshell almost pulled one back for the Latics early on with a 50 yard free-kick. The Latics were trying to put the first half behind them and their performance was an improvement, obviously the result of a rollicking from the manager. Their efforts were in vain as it got worse after Sam put Wrexham three up when he easily beat Haining in the box.
Danny Boshell (pictured) brought some consolation when he hit a screamer from 30 yards out but it only left 20 minutes to salvage anything from a disasterous game. David Eyres then replaced John Eyre before Rodney Jack reduced the deficit to one with a well taken header. It was now ‘game on’ and the 6,143 supporters poised themselves for a grandstand finish. A wicked deflection from a Mark Bonner effort almost did the trick but Wrexham managed to fritter away the remaining time for long enough to send their travelling army of 600 or so fans home with a memorable win.A very disappointed Brian Talbot commented, “We couldn't handle him (Sam). The first minute we were wrong side and he did a Griff. The second one we were asleep for the freekick and we had a mountain to climb. Let's be honest, we didn't turn up first half. It's an apology to the fans because the players didn't turn up, and I told them at half time if we're going to lose let's lose having a go. To be fair to the players they did have a go 2nd half but they should have done it first half as well."
"We've found out from the first two games that it's not going to be easy and we're realising we're in a batlle already. You can't expect to give teams goal starts. We're hoping the season will be a successful one but what's success. Last season we finished 15th. and we were hoping for better than that but there's definitely been a wake up call to us now. If you don't work hard, if you don't win battles, if you don't get hold of the ball and react quicker, other teams are going to beat you.”