In essence, that sums up the transition of the beast on Saturday to the lambs on Monday. If it were Christmas, we'd blame the turkey for this display. Maybe being Easter we should have a pop at Cadburys instead, but whoever we point the finger at for this display, the Blues just did not make the big time stage this Easter Monday.
Being frank, when the Latics are good, they're superb. When they're bad, they're downright awful. This defeat didn't come in the manner that those at Palace and Bristol City did though - especially as they held a lead after 15 seconds. This actually turned into a slow gradual error-strewn mess which left the "real" Latics facing not the prospect of a 2nd placed finish, but a worryingly battle to stay in the top 6. Talk from Latics fans after this game saw an air of worry setting in - almost as though one eye is firmly cast on the cut-off point for relegation rather than a play-off spot.
Regardless, the visitors went to the JJB to play. Wigan are renowned for their defensive qualities and when the "real" Latics lead after 15 seconds and Matt Jackson hobbled off in the opening stages, the possibilities were mouth-watering. The game plan was there to be executed - they needed to huddle, cajole and ruffle the Pieheads feathers and clip their wings. But it soon became apparent that the Latics would need a plan B. Referee Danson was such a prat, that he rivalled such scum as Mr Clattenburg who refereed our game vs Brentford (the one where Pogliacomi was inexplicably sent off.)
I really am sick of facing vermin like Mr Danson. I've struggled to not lose my control when writing about these useless prats, but this time I really am incensed to have seen a display as accurate as a 2yr olds would have been. You kind of get the feeling that this "Mr big time charlie look at me refereeing the champione" knew the occasion and would do everything in his power to see a home win. Had it been 1-1 by 90 minutes, I've no doubt he would have awarded the most dodgiest decision ever. This guy looked like he could rival the Major who tried to blag the money on "Who wants to be a millionaire?"
Ok, the "real" Latics weren't good enough in the end, but every decision went against them by this cretin. He missed elbows in the head, shoves in the back, pulls all over the park but when the visitors tried to get away with the slightest tug, a foul was given. Take the 2nd half handball on Darren Sheridan! The ball was blasted at him - a magician with slight-of-hand couldn't have got out of that one. Or how about the elbow to the back of Wijnhard's head, seconds before Wigan's 2nd goal. The cretin missed that one, let play flow to the other end and then gave a free-kick (which I admit it was) - but that led to a Wigan's crucial 2nd strike. You tell me where the fairness is in that!
Being honest, all the travelling fans there knew that the "real" Latics just weren't good enough. But when a game plan goes out of the window and players begin to think "this referee is right against us today" (like it does in the minds of watching fans) then a lack of concentration and professionalism can occur. Maybe that is the difference between a good team and a top team. Personally, I just wish these cretins would get it right in the first place.
The game got off to the perfect start for the visitors though. From the centre, the ball was rolled back to Eyres on the perimeter of the circle. Low had stormed down the right and Eyres found him perfectly. Low neatly cut the ball inside with his first touch, then with his 2nd touch just delayed slightly so he could slip the ball to advancing Wijnhard. Andrews raced past his strike partner, in between 2 defenders and into the box. Wiggy slid the ball through leaving Andrews with a chance to score. With a finish which would easily grace the Premiership, Andrews coolly slotted home past Filan into the far corner. It was one of the best goals you will ever see and was easily the quickest I have ever seen. 1-0.
From the opening goal though, the "real" Latics went downhill. If the following 89 minutes and 45 seconds had been of the same quality, Wigan would have been dead and buried by half-time. Instead it was the visitors who would be breathing a sigh of relief at the interval by finishing on level terms.
After the early set-back, Wigan instantly looked dangerous. Armstrong and Eyres failed to stop the hosts biggest threat in Gary Teale as he waltzed and danced a merry tale down that side. And on 6, Wigan fired their first warning shot with a free-kick which flew over by a few inches. It wasn't long after that the equaliser arrived. Teale again tormented and with plenty of space he whipped in a deadly cross leaving the defence flapping and Miskelly in 2 minds whether to come for it. He didn't and with Baudet left gawping as Roberts flew past to nod in at the far post, the "real" Latics had let in a costly, but very cheaply given goal. 1-1.
What the visitors needed to do now was consolidate. That should have been the plan anyway, but Low, Murray, Eyres and Baudet just couldn't find their passing boots, whilst Hall and Haining never anticipated well enough to cut out Wigan's forward movement. In addition to this, defensive headers weren't intelligent enough and instead of finding an Oldham player, clearances often fell at the hosts feet allowing them to hit straight back. Frustratingly of all, whenever a kick went upfield Winjhard would constantly move forward and end up running under the ball. This allowed any nearby defenders to step into the space and mop up every header. It was the simple stuff - and sadly Oldham weren't doing it.
On 12 minutes, Haining was at fault for allowing McCulloch too much room in the box. The midfielder turned to shoot, but fortunately Haining had by this time corrected himself to block a near-certain goal. The hosts carried on to dominate in terms of attacking prowess, but whenever the "real" Latics did try to get forward they were penalised for any minimal amount of contact. This stopped any flow of play that the visitors wanted to get into. Nervousness crept into the side and such refereeing left the "real" Latics stuck in 1st gear.
It took until the 24th minute for a decent decision from the cretin in black. Ironic cheers reverberated around the JJB, which had 1 side filled with Oldham fans and 3 other half-filled sides of Wigan fans. Other Oldham chants included "shall we filled your ground for you" and by the end of the game "3-1 to the referee." However, with this rare occurrence of a dangerous free-kick on the edge of Wigan's box, there was only one name being chanted now "Eyresie!" Up stepped the former Preston man to fire a low drive for the far corner, but Filan did well to get down and save.
The visitors began to get into the game more now and that was helped further by the loss of Matt Jackson for Wigan. A neat move saw Sheridan, who was constantly booed by the home crowd, send Low down the right. He found Murray's run through the defence and leaving the midfielder with just Filan to beat. However, Murray made a hash of his first touch, forcing him to re-gather himself but by the time he could shoot the defence was in place to block.
The play became quite open now, but neither side could create anything clear-cut for a short period. That was until the 35th minute when Wigan had a great chance to go infront. A sweet cross found McCulloch with the goal at his mercy. Stretching out a toe to poke home, Baudet made up for his earlier mistake and managed to put in a great saving block.
Neither side could force anything further of importance before half-time. Dowie knew his side had under-performed in the 1st half and therefore this had to be his biggest managerial team-talk ever. And for short while in the 2nd half, it appeared to have up-ed the visitors tempo. On 48, Low's one-two with Winjhard from a corner allowed him to sprint into the box and hit a daisy-cutter just wide of the near post.
Wigan responded to the threat. On 50, in-running McCulloch volleyed for goal. The midfielder's strike appeared to be heading for the back of the net but Miskelly pulled out a top drawer finger-tip save.
With the visitors trying to get forward, it was Andrews who was posing the biggest threat. However, he often had to forage out wide for strewn passes and when he tried his clever turn on the half-way line to chase a ball, he was often pulled back. But there was never a foul given for the offence and on 57, Oldham fans were completely incensed when he got tugged and in the tangle Roberts dived dramatically to get Andrews booked. You knew that it just wasn't our day.
Struggling to keep any composure under the pressure, the "real" Latics slowly began to loose their grip on the proceedings. On 58, Roberts was allowed acres of space to dangerously head over a free-kick and then on 62, defenders stood a mile off substitute Dinning as he powered a low drive from 25 yards. Miskelly looked beaten, but somehow he got down superbly to fingertip the ball wide.
By now, you sensed the a goal might be coming for the hosts. In a desperate attempt to change things and beef up the midfield, Dowie swapped uninspiring Baudet (what a difference 2 days makes) with John Eyre. And the change immediately gave the side a boost. Determined Andrews picked up the ball just inside the Wigan half and ran at defenders, passing two with ease. Loosing balance, he wound up for a snapshot at goal but Dinning just managed to stick out a toe to steal the ball. However, his toe-poke prodded the ball marginally wide of his own goal.
The improved emphasis from the visitors changed dramatically though. Eyre was never given a chance to settle into the game, as 3 minutes after coming on, the referee produced the most bias passage of play seen in years. It began with a long ball upfront for Winjhard. He went up for the header but took a wallop around the back of the head sending him crashing to the floor. Amazingly, play continued incensing the 4,000 strong visiting support. Another 30 seconds passed and now Wigan were on the attack. Haining went in strong on a player on the edge of the box and you knew the referee wouldn't miss that. It wasn't half as brutal as the challenge 30 seconds earlier. Yet from it, Bullard stepped up and rammed home an exquisite, inch perfect shot. Oldham fans went berserk and began chanting "2-1 to the referee." 1-2.
Before Wigan had taken this scandalous lead, any forward movement from Oldham was usually halted by the referee, but amazingly this changed once the hosts were infront. On 71, a rare free-kick was greeted with ironic cheers. Murray used it to feed Eyres on the edge of the box who promptly tried hitting one for the top corner. The effort never had enough bend on it.
With the visitors huffing and puffing and still not making the best use of their possession, the final un-doing came from defending of the worst proportion. Neil Roberts was allowed all the time and space in the world to run 25 yards unchallenged and smash Wigan's 3rd in off the crossbar. It was a goal that Wigan deserved to score and in truth, the "real" Latics had asked for. 1-3.
In the end, anyone connected to Oldham Athletic knew that on the day, a crucial day, things just weren't good enough. There was no 20 plus attempts at goal, no cool calm relaxed defending, no superb link-up play, no crisp intelligent passing, no swift and sharp movement and definitely no way that we would win with a performance of that standard. However, I still maintain that when you see a referee make the decisions he did and allow the game to be so one-sided in the way he did, it's very hard to execute plan A. The problem was, there was never a plan B, C or D, and if there had that cretin in black would have still found a way to help the Champions beat us.
So now we must trawl through the bones of this one and look nervously over our shoulder. With Tranmere looking dangerously close, the "real" Latics have a task on their hands to ensure a play-off place. Two points will do it, but Swindon beat Crewe last Saturday when little to play for and Huddersfield may still be fighting relegation on the final day. They'll both be tough battles and now, the prospect of slipping up now is frightening. At least Dowie has a horror movie from the JJB to scare the players into action.
As it now stands, Latics fans will fear 7th place just as much as Huddersfield will fear places 21 to 24. Our battle for a play-off place is now almost the equivalent to a battle to avoid relegation. I know some will disagree with me on that - if you do, then feel free to let me know just how you do feel at 5pm on May 3rd, should we finish 7th! I know how it'll feel to me!!!