That’s more like it

Photo: Tom Pickles

AND THAT MAKES THREE: Chris Taylor adds the finishing touch to Athletic’s emphatic win over their derby rivals.

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ATHLETIC SHOW TRUE COLOURS IN DERBY DAY ROMP

Oldham 3, Stockport 1
ATHLETIC’S performances against Hereford and Stockport could not have been further removed from one another.

Manager John Sheridan continually complains about his side’s lack of consistency, a point supported by their last two games.

It is mystifying how they went from being so bad at Edgar Street to producing such an impressive showing at Boundary Park on Saturday.

Sheridan had no cause to find fault with his players other than the fact they could and should have won by an even wider margin after blowing away their play-off rivals.

To put the result into context, this was only Stockport’s third away league defeat of the campaign. Before Saturday, only leaders Leicester City had lost fewer games on the road in Coca-Cola League One.

The response to the hammering at Hereford could not have been any more emphatic as Athletic proved, without question, that the five-goal drubbing was merely a blip.

The way in which the players, especially the younger ones, picked themselves up after that crushing defeat was encouraging.

Deane Smalley, Athletic’s one shining star at Hereford, produced a performance which frightened the life out of the Stockport defence.

Sheridan says Smalley’s lack of belief in himself is the only thing holding him back, but Saturday showed his immense ability and potential.

Kelvin Lomax also displayed tremendous character to come back to best form after Huddersfield Town winger Danny Cadamarteri and Hereford wide man Lionel Ainsworth had given him the run around in recent weeks.

He was switched to right-back in the absence of the suspended Neal Eardley, who must be fearing for his place against Scunthorpe United tomorrow night after watching his team-mate’s excellent display.

Athletic scored three quality goals through Danny Whitaker, Lee Hughes and Chris Taylor, thanks in no more small measure to new-signing Dean Windass.

The 39-year-old is closing in on his 200th league goal of his career, but he contributes much more to the side as he assisted with all three efforts.

Mark Allott won back his starting spot in place of Kevin Maher while new loan signing Scott Golbourne was handed his debut at left-back.

And Golbourne was quickly called into action, making a first minute goalline clearance to deny Tommy Rowe who had burst through the Athletic defence, rounded ’keeper Greg Fleming and looked set to score.

Athletic made the most of that slice of luck to destroy Stockport with wave after wave of attacks.

They created 10 scoring chances in the opening 26 minutes as they dominated their local rivals.

Whitaker put Athletic ahead in the third minute with another of his classic long-range strikes.

He was given the ball by Windass and, cutting back on to his left foot, curled a delightful effort low to the right of ’keeper Owain Fon Williams for his fifth goal of the campaign.

Williams then made important saves to deny Smalley and Hughes as Athletic piled on the pressure in a frenetic opening six minutes.

It was no surprise when Hughes doubled Athletic’s advantage. He timed his run to perfection to claim a through ball from Windass. He then beat the offside trap before slotting the ball through the legs of Williams.

Athletic were so much in control it was untrue, yet shortly before half time and completely against the run of play, Stockport gave themselves an unexpected lifeline when substitute striker Oli Johnson’s header squeezed past Fleming.

Stockport made a spirited start to the second half, playing with renewed hope following Johnson’s first-ever goal.

Yet that was soon extinguished when Taylor scored his ninth goal of the season.

Windass produced a wonderfully-weighted lay off, and Taylor ran through the heart of the Stockport defence before producing a clinical left-foot finish.

Taylor could have finished with a hat-trick as he had two great chances late on in the game, but was denied on each occasion by Williams.

No fairytale for Taylor, but Athletic were back in business after the Hereford horror show.


Sheridan salutes ‘great response’

ATHLETIC manager John Sheridan was delighted with the way his side recovered from their hammering at Hereford.

He hailed the performance of his players as Athletic returned to winning ways in Coca-Cola League One with a scintillating display against Stockport.

“It was a great response after a disappointing performance and it was full credit to the players,” declared Sheridan.

“We were excellent from start to finish and dominated the game. It was a professional performance.

“We looked a different team to last week. Full credit to the players and I will praise them when they deserve it and they deserved a pat on the back.

“The first half was the best we’ve played this season. We got into them, pressurised them and could have scored a lot more goals.

“But I am not grumbling, because 3-1 is an excellent result against a team with one of the best away records in our division.”

Sheridan confessed to wondering how his side would react to the defeat at Hereford, but said the players had worked hard in training a bid to put things right.

He was delighted with the display of Deane Smalley, describing his first-half performance as “unbelievable”.

Sheridan said: “Deane has every attribute to be a great player, but he needs to believe in himself more.

“In the first half he was a big threat and caused them a lot of problems.”

Sheridan was also pleased with the performances of Lee Hughes and Dean Windass, who had a hand in all three of the goals.

He continued: “Dean played very well. He is very cute in what he does and you can see his experience.

“The same can be said about Lee, who had three chances and scored again.

“We are creating openings, which is good, because if you do that you will score goals.”

Peter Ward, Stockport’s assistant manager, paid tribute to Athletic.

He said: “It was not our best performance, but you have to give credit to Oldham who stopped us playing.

“They know that if we get into our stride, we are a good team, but they prevented us from doing that.

“Oldham showed their experience and guile and they used the two lads up front well.

“We are a good, young side and have come up against experience in the past and beaten experience. But we didn’t here as Oldham put us under pressure by getting the ball forward early.”