Portsmouth 1 - 2 Oldham Athletic

Date published: 30 September 2017


The Oldham revival continues under first team coach Richie Wellens as Latics recorded their second successive win since John Sheridan departed.

Two goals from Eoin Doyle gave Latics a well deserved away victory, despite a 90th minute Portsmouth goal that set up a frantic seven minutes of added time.

Oldham dominated the game for long periods peppering Luke McGee in the Portsmouth goal with attempts from inside and outside the box.

Doyle came close to giving Oldham a dream start when he hit the post after just four minutes with a shot from outside the box.

Portsmouth had a couple of early attempts but the Oldham defence were untroubled for most of the first half.

Doyle opened the scoring after 16 minutes when a Craig Davies shot deflected off Portsmouth defender Nathan Thompson to Doyle who hit the back of the net from close range.

Dan Gardner came close to adding a second for Oldham but his long range shot was saved in the bottom corner by McGee.

Midway through the half there was a lengthy delay as Portsmouth's Nathan Thompson was treated for an injury after a nasty collision with fellow defender Drew Talbot. Thompson was stretchered off and replaced by Gareth Evans.

The closest Portsmouth came to scoring in the first half was after 40 minutes when Jamal Lowe hit the right post with a shot from the right side of the six yard box.

With half time approaching, Jack Byrne tested McGee with a shot from outside the box but the Portsmouth keeper got down well to save in the bottom right corner.

The delay caused by the injury to Thompson led to six minutes of time being added, but despite a number of further attempts the teams went in at half time with Oldham still leading by the solitary goal.

Half time: Portsmouth 0 - 1 Oldham Athletic

The second half started as well as it gets for Oldham with Doyle scoring his second within minutes. Doyle stole possession from Drew Talbot and neatly dinked the ball past McGee to give Latics a two goal cushion.

Oldham continued to press and only quick thinking by McGee in the Portsmouth goal prevented Doyle registering his hat-trick - Gardner lifted the ball over the top for Doyle, but McGee was quick off his line to smother the chance.

Midway through the half, and with the game looking comfortable for Oldham, Wellens replaced Gevaro Nepomuceno with Abdelhakim Omrani.

Portsmouth also made a change as Ben Close made way for Danny Rose.

The game got scrappy with little in the way of goalmouth action before an injury to Dan Gardner saw him replaced by Oliver Banks.

With the game into the last ten minutes, Portsmouth had an opportunity to pull a goal back but Gareth Evans' header from the centre of the box, from a set piece, went wide.

Portsmouth began pressing more and Matthew Clarke put a header wide following another set piece.

Oldham brought Queensy Menig on for Byrne to try and stem the Portsmouth tide but the pressure told in the 90th minute when Brett Pitman found the bottom corner of the net after the ball was pulled back for him by Jamal Lowe.

A minute later, into time added on, the Portsmouth players and supporters were screaming for a penalty but referee Hicks was having none of it and waved play on.

Portsmouth pressed hard for a last gasp equaliser but the Oldham defence stood firm and saw out the final minutes of the seven minutes of added time, to the relief of the travelling Latics faithful.

The win lifts Oldham to 18th in the table, just one point behind local rivals Rochdale.

Portsmouth: Luke McGee, Drew Talbot, Dion Donohue, Nathan Thompson, Matthew Clarke, Ben Close, Jamal Lowe, Stuart O'Keefe, Matthew Kennedy, Oliver Hawkins, Brett Pitman (C).
Substitutes: Alex Bass, Brandon Haunstrup, Kyle Bennett, Gareth Evans, Kal Naismith, Danny Rose, Curtis Main.

Oldham Athletic: Johny Placide, Cameron Dummigan, Gevaro Nepomuceno, Peter Clarke (C), Kean Bryan, Jack Byrne, Rob Hunt, Ousmane Fane, Dan Gardner, Craig Davies, Eoin Doyle.
Substitutes: Jack Ruddy, George Edmundson, Anthony Gerrard, Oliver Banks, Queensy Menig, Tope Obadeyi, Abdelhakim Omrani.

Referee: Craig Hicks.

Attendance: 17,848 (466 from Oldham).