Oldham 4, Cheltenham 0: Life’s a beach for Latics

Photo: Tom Pickles

LET ME THROUGH: Deane Smalley (left) nips in between two Cheltenham defenders.

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I WAS watching women’s beach volleyball the other day. Very nice, very nice indeed.

It was especially good to know that the two birds — sorry, athletes — chosen to represent America at the Olympics were called Misty and Kerri. Let’s face it, when your names are Misty and Kerri (and it had to be Kerri with an ‘i’), beach volleyball is the only way to go.

Trouble is, it’s not a proper sport is it? It doesn’t deserve a place at the world’s greatest celebration of psychological endurance and physical achievement.

“Faster — Higher — Stronger” goes the Olympic motto. In beach volleyball it should be “Cold Beer — Disposable Barbecue — Roll About In The Sand”. Frankly, if Misty and Kerri had been even half-dressed I would have turned off in disgust.

Just so you know, the next world championships are being held in that well-known coastal hotspot of Stavanger, Norway. Last year’s venue was land-locked Switzerland.

All true, and so is the fact that Athletic stand top of League One with three wins out of three, two clean sheets and 10 goals scored. No, honest.

Manager John Sheridan wanted a bright start to the season, but even the most optimistic of fans can’t have expected Athletic to deliver in such style.

Cheltenham were blown away at Boundary Park as the hosts carved out endless openings and Lee Hughes spearheaded their victory with a clinical hat-trick.

Hughes gave Cheltenham nightmares all afternoon, turning them in every direction, beating them on the ground, in the air and taking defenders into places they didn’t want to visit.

Goals aside, it was a fine exhibition of centre-forward play. And, having missed one or two earlier chances, he vented his anger with a bullet of a shot to open the scoring.

Sheridan’s men were home and dry with half an hour to spare as Hughes completed his second hat-trick in 25 games for the club — he now has 11 goals in 21 starts.

It was a shame that strike partner Lewis Alessandra didn’t chip in too. He deserved to score, but that honour went to midfield man Danny Whitaker instead.

So Athletic are riding high as the only team in League One with a 100-per-cent record, something to inspire enormous confidence even at this extremely early stage.

They are playing attractive football and showing an almost tangible sense of self-belief. Let’s remember they are just three games into a long season. Nonetheless, it’s still good to watch.

This latest victory saw them overpower, and then overwhelm, a visiting side full of experience and physical strength.

Cheltenham had a very brief stab at fighting back but, with apologies to Bob Dylan (after all, he might read the Chronicle online), you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

Athletic had gone straight on to the offensive, working half-chances for Alessandra and Hughes as their midfield clicked into gear.

And they went desperately close after 15 minutes when a clever turn by Hughes set up Whitaker, who drilled against the post from 20 yards.

Cheltenham’s Jennison Myrie-Williams was unlucky from the next attack, curling his shot inches wide from near the corner of the box.

The visitors played some neat football, but they were pinned back again as Hughes failed to make proper contact six yards out.

Hughes, however, was menacing Cheltenham’s defence, and he bullied Michael Townsend out of possession before the centre-half recovered to block his goalbound shot.

Hughes also fired wide and felt convinced he was dragged back for a penalty before Athletic’s frustration was summed up in a mad scramble.

It looked certain to end in an opening goal, yet Cheltenham ’keeper Shane Higgs saved superbly from Reuben Hazell, while the post denied Hughes.

Surely Athletic’s pressure would earn them a half-time lead. With seconds to spare, it did — Alessandra’s pass sent Hughes racing into the box, and he wasn’t going to miss from eight yards.

Now that the floodgates had been kicked open, Athletic charged through by doubling their lead in the 50th minute.

Kelvin Lomax’s deep cross was sent back in by Andy Liddell and, once again, Hughes left the ’keeper stranded with a precise first-time finish.

After Alessandra’s low drive almost made it three, Cheltenham popped momentarily into Athletic’s half and Myrie-Williams gave Mark Crossley his only test.

But Cheltenham were powerless to stop the Hughes jamboree as he rounded off his treble with a close-range header from Neal Eardley’s perfect cross.

That was three goals in 17 minutes and you felt the only way to prevent Hughes striking again would be to take him out of the game entirely, which Sheridan duly did. The big spoilsport.

Athletic, however, were no one-man band — far from it — and their victory was crowned near the end when Whitaker swept into the bottom corner from 20 yards to score his first goal for the club.



Our football at times was brilliant — Sheridan

MANAGER John Sheridan felt Athletic’s display against Cheltenham was among the best of his 113-match reign.

He said: “We had seven or eight people all performing really well, which will always give you a good chance of winning.

“Our football at times was brilliant. The main thing was to get three points, but I thought our performance was spot on.

“I told the lads to be wary about this game after we beat Leeds last week, but they responded exactly how I wanted.

“We could have scored a few more goals in the first half, and then in the second half we were top-drawer.

“The most pleasing thing is to keep a clean sheet because I’m confident we’ve got players who will score goals, so it’s all about stopping them at the other end.

“But we made great opportunities with one-touch and two-touch football and some of our delivery was very good, especially from Neal Eardley for the third goal.

“Not everything was right — we tried one or two setpieces which didn’t work, and that was my fault — but to win 4-0 is always a job well done.

“We peppered them and got our just rewards. I would say, in the second half, it was probably some of the best football since I became manager.

“It’s nice to look in the paper when you are top of the league, so I’ve told the lads to enjoy it but keep their feet very much on the ground.

“You get the moans and groans when things aren’t going well, so they should enjoy the nice comments — but we’ve got 43 games to go and there’s no way anyone should get carried away.”

Cheltenham had no answer to Athletic striker Lee Hughes, and Sheridan added: “Those goals were what Hughesy is all about.

“He’s a poacher who knows where to be. He’s a penalty-box player who will put away chances if you create them.

“He gets in the right areas and sometimes just stands there, but that’s what the younger strikers can learn from him.

“Lewis Alessandra should get some credit as well because he was tremendous, but so were about seven or eight others.”

Cheltenham boss Keith Downing tipped Athletic for a promotion bid, saying: “I’ve no complaints and I expect Oldham to be top six at least.

“I’m disappointed with the manner of our defeat, but Oldham are a very good side and Lee Hughes was a handful who we couldn’t keep quiet.”

Pictures by TOM PICKLES