Dale 0-0 Oldham (2-4 On Penalties)

After a beer with a few Biffo friends I arrived at the ground around 20 minutes before kick off. Willbutts Lane was filling up nicely and the Oldham fans were in great voice as were the Dale fans during the minutes applause for Ernie. I hope if Ernie’s family took anything away from the game it was how well respected he was by Oldham and Dale fans alike.

Hilly made two changes from the weekends team with Higgy coming in for Wiseman on the right with Shaw replacing ALF for his home debut.

Dale really did struggle to get into the game and it was the Biffos who controlled the early tempo. The defending from Dale though was solid as it would remain throughout the match.

The first chance for Dale came when Daggers was put through but he rather fluffed his lines and couldn’t quite get the ball under control.

Oldham had a few shots from distance but they were easy pickings for Russell. Russell was to face a sterner test though when Oldham were awarded a penalty. McArdle was judged to have fouled Dean Smalley on the edge of the box, for my money it looked slighty harsh but I’d have to see a replay to be sure.

A first mention for Lee Hughes then who had been receiving dogs abuse throughout and rightly so. Anyway whether it got to him or not I’m not sure but he hit a rather tame shot to Russell’s right which was easily saved.

I must say this woke us up a bit and we finally decided to start passing the ball around. As I’ve said previously I do really like the look of Keltie for me he is what John Doolan would have been for us if we’d signed him a few years earlier. He has a very elegant manner of spraying the ball to the wings and has a very good eye for a pass. I’m convinced he’ll be a good signing.

As I said we were forcing our way into the game and TK came close with a good free kick which was well saved by Crossley.

Our old friend Mr. Hughes decided to get involved in the game again and stamped on Kennedy’s arm after the defender had cleared the ball. The linesman remarkably missed this from only a few yards away. Anyhow Oldham were still reduced to ten men but I’m not entirely sure why Crag Davies was sent off. I can only imagine it was for a bit of handbags.

The second half was all about Dale. We had a real chance here with Oldham down to ten and us on top. It was a real case of dogged defending throughout the second half for Oldham. Sadly we just seemed to miss that little spark, I called for the inclusion of Shaw pre-match but for all his hardwork he just couldn’t get involved in the game.

It wasn’t long before ALF came on to replace him and he did look lively it must be said. For the second 45 minutes though I’m struggling to think of any chances we created.

One good chance we did have fell to Daggers, it looked almost as if it took him by surpise when a cross was deflected and his header from close range was saved by Crossley.

Jones had a decent effort from distance and Keltie ballooned one over the bar. ALF probably came closest when he found some space and his curling effort was well saved by the Keeper.

And so extra time came and if chances were at a premium up until that point they were even more rare now. McArdle had a header wide and that’s about it.

And so it came to penalties and I just had a really bad feeling about them. It just seemed obvious that after all our huffing and puffing we would come unstuck on pens.

Turns out I was right and Daggers was the first to miss for Dale, in all honesty he looked completely knackered and it was little suprise. ALF too missed his spotkick and it was down to Lee Hughes to seal the win for Oldham, whilst I don’t want to get involved in a Lee Hughes debate if i’m honest many of the songs aimed at him tonight are representative of the way I feel. Anyway he stepped up and slotted it home and secured them the win.

It’s not all bad news for Dale and it was a decent performance. We just are lacking that extra something at the moment and it seemed remarkably like a game we may have taken part in in the early part of last season.