Huge prize up at stake as cup-tie ends even

Photo: Pictures by ALAN HOWARTH

PUT YOUR BACK INTO IT: Adam Rooney displays his agility as he strives to win a header for Athletic.

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Oldham 1, Mansfield 1

SO, it’s Liverpool again for Athletic or Mansfield - with an FA Cup replay set to sort out who goes to Anfield in January.

Neither side did enough to win this match: the first half produced both goals - the opener an absolute humdinger from Athletic captain Korey Smith; but the second half was as dreary as the dark December afternoon on which it ws played.

Even Jonson Clarke-Harris, introduced before the hour to add weight in attack, couldn’t find a way beyond the wall of the Mansfield defense.

The other substitute, Michael Petrasso also tried and tried again to thread a path to goal without success.

This was a lethargic Athletic display, which despite itself managed to stretch Latics’ run to eight games without defeat.

You could argue that teams not playing to their usual standards but avoiding defeat, must get something right. That something was good defending. James Tarkowski and Jonathan Grounds had a couple of shaky moments early doors, but by the end they had the measure of the Mansfield attack.

Full-backs Matteo Lanzoni and Ellis Plummer were tidy but the latter wasted possession too easily going forward.

Though Johnson’s side was always willing to have a go at goal - they had 14 attempts - Marriott didn’t have to perform spectacularly to keep his side in the game. Not that Mansfield looked like a team that had lost its previous six league games.

Home fans who had probably come to see the same intensity as against Bradford six days earlier, had little to get excited about until Smith brought them to their feet with the BP goal of the season.

After first dispossessing his opposite number Adam Murray on the half-way line, the midfield man raced down the left flank towards the penalty area.

Pausing to turn inside a defender on the edge of the 18-yard box, he curled a right-foot shot beyond Marriott quite brilliantly.

That was the signal for Athletic to press home their advantage - but it didn’t happen.

It should have been 2-0 when James Dayton whipped in a lovely cross to the back post, where Danny Philliskirk was loitering. But the forward, off-colour for most of the afternoon, jumped too soon and his header ballooned into the air.

Mansfield were on level terms five minutes later.

Adam Rooney steered two headers into the arms of Marriott, Petrasso fired straight at the ’keeper and Philliskirk shot wide when he had better options either side of him.

Mansfield were limited to sporadic attacks in the second half, though Grounds did block a shot by Meikle and Martin Riley headed wide from close range.

Clarke-Harris brought more urgency to Athletic’s play - he was prepared to put defenders on the back foot - and his two efforts stung Marriott’s palms.

But Athletic live to fight another day; no doubt Liverpool will be watching the replay closely.