Dud and buried

Town arrived in Lancashire firing on all cylinders with only one defeat in five games.

They faced an Oldham side which had only won once all season and conceded more goals than any other side in the league.

It was a game Town should have won. The fact they left a soggy Oldham with nothing was more down to their lack of consistency than to the home team's efforts.

Todd kept faith with the same side for the third match running, but they were a shadow of the side which had matched Wigan and beat Oxford in their last two games.

There was little penetration and the passing was crab-like, fine going side to side, but try going forward and everything fell apart.

Teams pushing for promotion will look to pick up points at Oldham. Anyone harbouring ambitions to play in Division One next year will be able to embark on a decent run of results and climb the table.

Town have not, cannot and that is why Todd believes they will not be challenging where it counts come May.

It was a miserable day full stop.

Steady rain fell throughout the entire 90 minutes made for a difficult encounter.

But that was no excuse for Town, who never really moved beyond second gear, once again relied on the good form of keeper Bart Griemink who made one outstanding save from Tony Carss in the second half and showed agility and assurity with the wet ball.

He was called into action after only two minutes.

The slippery surface caused indecision in the Town defence as an Alan Reeves mistake let in Craig Dudley down the right but his drive across goal was well held by the big Dutchman.

Five minutes later and it was Keith O'Halloran who put his keeper under pressure when his poor back pass let in Dudley again, but this time the striker's effort hit the side netting as he attempted to toe-poke it around Griemink.

Town did finally wake in the 10th minute. Danny Invincible burst through the heart of the Oldham defence before being up-ended on the edge of the box.

The free-kick was rolled into the path of O'Halloran, but his low drive was held by keeper Gary Kelly at the second attempt.

It was Town's best period of the game as a good move down the left created a chance for Matt Hewlett, but his strike from the edge of the box went wide of the right hand post.

A minute later and Town earned their first corner. David Duke's cross was cleared to the edge of the box but O'Halloran fired a volley into the ground and the ball bounced narrowly wide.

Todd was forced to make a change in the 26th minute as Matt Hewlett hobbled off with a knee injury and Andy Williams entered the fray. David Duke moved in alongside O'Halloran in the heart of midfield.

Town's best chance of the match came in the 36th minute when a long ball from O'Halloran was flicked into the path of Martin Williams who raced on, shrugged off two defenders, and fired his shot goalwards.

The ball seemed to be nestling in the back of the net and had the Town fans cheering from behind Griemink's goal. But, in fact, it had missed by the narrowest of margins and bounced back onto the net off the advertising boards.

A minute later and it was the Oldham fans who thought they had scored.

Paul Smith rose highest to power a header past Griemink but the goal was disallowed for off-side.

Griemink was by far the busier of the two keepers as half-time approached.

First he was forced to tip over a looping header from Oldham striker Dudley and then he held onto a long-range effort from Tony Carss.

The home team's pressure continued after the break as Griemink dived full-length away to his left to palm away another low shot from new-boy Carss.

David Duke tried a long-range strike which was held at the second attempt by Kelly, but Town were struggling to create anything which could threaten the Oldham defence.

Griemink on the otherhand was under the cosh.

He did well to block a powerful point-blank shot from Carss in the 50th minute and was lucky to see Smith fire the rebound high over the bar.

Todd made a swift second half change introducing Grazioli for Alexander in the 52nd minute. However, it was Oldham who continued to create the openings in front of goal, Dudley heading straight at Griemink after 63 minutes.

As they kept up the pressure, Town's resistance finally broke.

Referee Baines played an advantage after Sol Davis fouled Neil Adams on the right. The ball was fired in low by Carss and Dudley intercepted, swivelled, and fired a powerful strike past Griemink to give them a 73rd minute lead.

Oldham were on fire and Dudley went close to adding a second when he ran at Reeves before bending a low shot around the left post.

The only blip on Oldham's day was the sending off of goalscorer Dudley with a minute remaining after picking up his second yellow card.

But it was too late for Town to make any kind of impact and they left Lancashire as the losers.

It was only left for Alan Reeves to pick up a late booking after tripping Smith to complete a thoroughly depressing afternoon for the boys in red.

Click here for full gallery of photographs from the game