Oldham Athletic 4 Plymouth Argyle 1 Referee 0

A farcical display from the referee, Mr.Cowburn nearly ruined a fantastic day in one of the worst performances I have ever seen. Darren Sheridan came into the side and replaced Scott Vernon who went on the bench. Jermaine Johnson went upfront to partner John Eyre. Dean Crowe replaced the injured Wes Wilkinson as a substitute.

Plymouth buoyed by a sizeable turnout from Devon enjoyed the early exchanges, pressing Oldham back and looking like champions elect. It took ten minutes for the first real chance to happen, slack marking from the Oldham defence helped David Norris go clear down the right only to have his shot blocked by Pogliacomi’s legs.

Oldham started coming into the game after weathering the early pressure. A flurry of corners from Oldham didn’t result to much, Mark Bonner hitting a shot three or four yards wide from the edge of the box.

The game then became stuck in midfield with Oldham showing more fight and determination. 34 minutes into the game Mark Bonner stretched to cut out a Plymouth pass and sent a through ball for Jermaine Johnson to chase, he ran past the defence, rounded the keeper and placed the ball into the empty net. 1-0

Plymouth nearly hit back straight away when Marino Keith connected with a cross from Tony Capaldi which went inches wide.

Oldham continued to pressure the Plymouth defence, minutes before the end of the half a long throw came in and a scramble ensued before Gareth Owen managed to get clear and score his first goal in his last game for the Latics. 2-0

If 2-0 was amazing when David Eyres curled in a long range freekick from the left hand side to make it 3-0 was unbelievable, the cheer that came up after that goal was one of amazement, shock and disbelief.

The whistle went minutes later and the players left to a standing ovation as they headed up the tunnel. Surely Oldham couldn’t blow it now.

Plymouth made a change ay half time. Martin Phillips replaced Tony Capaldi. The referee who had been largely anonymous so far awarded Plymouth a penalty for Gareth Owen holding a players shirt. Owen was booked for this. Wotton’s penalty was saved by Pogliacomi but he couldn’t hold it and Wotton hit the rebound in. 3-1

A minute after this Johnson was tugged back near the Plymouth box which wasn’t given and then referee Cowburn gave a free kick up the pitch to Plymouth to the bemusement of the crowd and Johnson was booked also.

The referee was losing it terribly, he was giving free kicks here there and everywhere and when Paul Wotton took a freekick too early he gave Wotton his second yellow card and he was sent off. Terrible and ludicrous decision.

Jermaine Johnson went very close to scoring his second as he made another break past the Plymouth defence who gave Latics all the room in the world upfront, he rounded the keeper again but losing his balance he fired over with the goal gapping.

Minutes later Jermaine Johnson got past the defence again but with the aid of his arm and the referee had no choice but the give him his second yellow and another sending off. Jermaine was stupid, he could have cost us it in the end but if the referee had given a free kick after a foul on Johnson maybe he wouldn’t have been given his first yellow card.

Plymouth made another change as former Bolton Wanderers player Hasney Aljofree came on for Lee Hodges.

The Pilgrims thought they had made it 3-2 but Connolly was adjudged to be offside and a minute later the play went down the other end, David Eyres played the ball over the Plymouth defence, Paul Murray ran through them, superbly brought the ball down and fired past McCormick. 4-1

Oldham started playing with confidence as Murray and Eyres linked up well with great one touch passing only for Eyres to fire over.

Plymouth made their last substitution, Steve Adams came on to replace Peter Gilbert.

Argyle had one or two chances from Marino Keith but his shots went harmlessly wide.

Oldham made a couple of changes too after this. John Eyre and David Eyres made their way off to a standing applause, Scott Vernon and Ernie Cooksey came on to replace them.

Scott Vernon nearly made it five as he broke clear of a woeful Plymouth defence but he dragged his shot agonisingly wide, if he had passed the ball to Cooksey who had a clear goal to aim at we probably would have been celebrating again. Good that Vernon has a strikers instinct though.

A sliced clearance by McCormick let Cooksey with a point blank shot at goal but McCormick made amends by pushing his shot out for a corner.

From the corner Paul Murray nearly scored from a neat build up but he was asking too much to score from a tight angle.

Oldham then relaxed a bit and started passing the ball about. Then the referee brought the game to an end. Celebration time! A well earned victory moves Oldham up to 16^th place but still only 2 points above the relegation zone still with team below us also winning. The season still isn’t over and the players still need to be up for it if we are to survive. If we didn’t win today we would now be in the relegation zone.

Results That Matter At The Bottom

Oldham Athletic 4 Plymouth Argyle 1
Barnsley 0 Brentford 2
Brighton & Hove Albion 1 Peterborough United 0
Grimsby Town 1 Rushden & Diamonds 0
Hartlepool United 4 Notts County 0
QPR 1 Stockport County 1
Port Vale 1 Chesterfield 1

Table

16. Oldham Athletic P 42 GD 3 PTS 49
17. Brentford 43 -17 49
18. Peterborough United 43 -2 48
19. Rushden & Diamonds 43 -8 48
20. Stockport County 43 -8 48
21. Grimsby Town 43 -25 47
22. Chesterfield 43 -22 45
23. Notts County 43 -26 41
24. Wycombe Wanderers 43 -25 34