I’d like to begin this match report with an apology. I’d like to apologise in advance to those who may read this, for making them live, or indeed relive, Huddersfield Town vs Oldham Athletic; a game rated by the club as Category A, with the A apparently standing for Absolute crap.

Town went into the game on the back of a good away win at Wycombe, but having struggled at home in recent matches, so it was anyone’s guess how this game would play out. Lining up in an unchanged 442 formation, the Terriers faced an Oldham side battling with the shadow of a relegation dogfight; on paper Town were the clear favourites, but paper rarely takes into account the fact that Town are, well, Town.

From the off, Lee Clark’s men started as they meant to go on. Badly. Oldham, who had a 5 man midfield sat behind ex-Town favourite Pawel Abbott, took the early initiative, working the ball around well and creating numerous half chances. Most noticeable was their work ethic and drive to close down Town men at every opportunity. Nobody in blue and white was afforded any time on the ball, leading to mistakes, constantly surrendered possession and obvious frustration. The Latics should probably have taken the lead on the quarter hour mark, when a neat ball put Abbott through one on one with Smithies, but luckily for the Town faithful, he could only chip the ball straight into the arms of the young keeper.

As the half progressed there were no signs of improvement, and Oldham continued to hold the ball and press for an opener – it was only the aerial prowess of Clarke and Trotman at the back that kept them at bay. I am keen to stress the ‘aerial’ nature of that prowess, as over the course of the 90 minutes Trotman again proved that he is to passing football, what Andy Ritchie is to touchline passion. I had to change my trousers on at least 5 separate occasions. Outnumbered and out-battled in midfield, Town had no answer to Oldham’s passing football, were saved only by the bar from another Abbott effort.

And then, completely out of the blue, the Terriers took a thoroughly undeserved lead. A quick exchange between Pilkington and Heffernan down the left hand side led to a whipped cross from the Aussie. The Oldham defender made an impressive hash of his clearance, allowing Robinson to steal in and dink the ball over the goalkeeper to put Town ahead. That’s 3 in 4 games now for the striker, whose knack of being in the right place at the right time is making up for his inability to trap a bag of cement. After a dour first half, Town somehow trudged in 1 goal to the good.

Whatever was said to the players at half time didn’t particularly seem to work, as Lee Clark’s men picked up from where they left off; penned back into their own half and forced into lumping it ineffectively to Rhodes and Robinson, who were being marshalled/pulled into the gravitational field of the world’s largest footballer, Sean Gregan. More punched in the back of the head than nudged by his side’s performance, Lee Clark wrung the changes in a bid to get Town competing again in the centre of the park. Collins and Rhodes made way for the pace and steel of Tom Clarke and James Berrett. Erm, yeah. The home side’s cause was helped further shortly after that when Kieran Lee was pre-emptively sent to go and fetch Theo Robinson’s next effort on goal.

Despite their numerical deficit, Oldham continued to hold onto the ball, much to the very obvious frustration of Town’s support. Down to 10 men, Dave Penney reverted to three at the back in an attempt to retain his side’s midfield dominance, and it appeared to be working. The Terriers looked clueless in possession and impotent in attack, which is probably what you get when your game plan appears to be ‘get the ball to Theo, and rely on him to hold it up’. Oldham should have grabbed a late equaliser when a cross found its way to Eaves completely unmarked in the box, but he could only spoon is effort horribly. In sacrificing a defender for midfield dominance, Oldham had left themselves exposed at the back and a quick break from Gary Roberts, arguably Town’s best player on the day, led to the goal that sealed the points.

Sprinting clear down the right flank, he squared the ball neatly for Robinson, who with 10 minutes to pick his spot and all the composure of Emile Heskey in an England shirt, managed to find the back of the net for his second of the game. It was far more than Town deserved, but I’d happily take another 6 performances like that, if they all resulted in the same 3 points as a result.

Smithies – 6 – Oldham’s lack of potency up top meant he was never really tested, but did what he had to do.

Peltier – 6 – Worked well down the right flank with Roberts, and made some dangerous runs.

Clarke – 7 – Very solid both in the air and on the ground on a night where he was always kept busy.

Trotman – 6 – As usual won everything in the air, but with the ball at his feet looks more like a netballer. He’d be ace at head tennis.

Heffernan – 6 – Out of position more times than he was in it, but his pace allowed him to recover well most of the time.

Roberts – 8 – My man of the match, and probably Town’s only consistent threat. Everything we did stemmed from him.

Pilkington – 5 – Another game where he didn’t really bother to turn up. If Ainsworth was here / wasn’t a bit rubbish, he’d be looking over his shoulder.

Collins – 5 – Largely ineffective alongside Drinkwater. Struggled under the constant pressure of the Oldham midfield, and gave away possession far too easily.

Drinkwater – 6 – Less effective than in recent games, again due to Oldham’s dominance in the centre of the pitch.

Rhodes – 6 – Got completely bullied by the Latics defence and struggled to get into the game.

Robinson – 8 – Got 2 goals, and that speaks for itself. We didn’t play to his strengths and it was very frustrating to watch at times, especially with him operating as a lone striker, but he put in the effort and got his reward. Looked shattered at the end.
Subs –

James Berrett – A couple of nice passes but had little chance to shine with the ball at his feet.

Tom Clarke – Similar to Berrett, but without the nice passes.

Ecclestone – Looked quite bright when he came on, although there were a couple of occasions where he should have pulled the trigger and chose to pass.

Lee Clark – Wasn’t frightened to change the shape of the team to cope with Oldham’s midfield dominance. Did it work? Ultimately, yes, because we won 2-0. Some brave decisions that turned out to be the right ones.

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