Bristol City - The Inquest

After only the Latics' second defeat in fourteen League outings John Sheridan held an inquest into what went wrong. In philosophical mood Shez said of the defeat, "Bristol are probably the best side we've played this season although that doesn't mean we aren't very disappointed with the performance. It's hard to say what went wrong, especially when we've been doing so well at home, but you aren't going to win if you've got six or seven players having an off-day. Unfortunately that's what happened in a big game against one of the clubs who are around us at the top. The supporters, players and staff are all very disappointed to lose 3-0, but hopefully it was a one-off. Sometimes you've got to hold your hands up. We didn't deserve anything at all from the game. I thought we actually started quite brightly for the first 10 minutes up to Bristol scoring, but after that they dominated. This is only the second time all season we've deserved to lose a match. The other was at Chesterfield, so it's the first time at home."

“On the whole we've been performing very well, but it's important we all stick together after this result and show the character we need to prove ourselves. One of the pleasing things about this season is the way we've responded to little stumbles, so the lads should keep their heads up. There were a lot of things wrong with the way we played, but I've told them how we can do better next week and I'm definitely not going to panic. We shouldn't dwell too much on a bad day at the office, and the lads themselves know they made a few mistakes. Les Pogliacomi held his hands up over the first goal because he should have done better, but all teams have a bad day. Maybe it would have been different if Chris Porter's goal hadn't been disallowed but I'm sick of going on about refereeing decisions. I'm so happy I don't play any more because I'd be sent off every week with the way referees are now. We're just going to concentrate on what we do well and get back to the standards we've set ourselves. The most important thing now is that we bounce back."

Shez's counterpart, Bristol City boss Gary Johnson, said, “To come to a place like Oldham, who have such a good home record, and beat them 3-0 is a fantastic result. I'm sure Boundary Park is similar to Ashton Gate in the sense of away teams just wanting to avoid defeat, but we were very positive from the start.”