Oldham Athletic 6 Grimby Town 0
Last updated : 10 February 2004 By The Chairman
Celebration Sunday could not have been any better had it been script written. Scott Vernon (pictured) gave the Latics the lead as early as the 8th. minute when he found the top corner. Seven minutes later it was Vernon 2 Latics 2 when his left footer hit the far corner. It was Adam Griffins turn to get in on the act when got the third in the 26th. minute with an acrobatic overhead kick and then Jermaine Johnson made it four for the Latics in the 33rd. minute when he beat two defenders as well as the keeper with an early shot. Seconds later Johnson almost got the fifth but it was blocked on the line. It went worse for Grimsby when Edwards was sent off for a professional foul and then Vernon completed his hat-trick with a low shot to put the Latics 5-0 up at the half.
Athletic continued to dominate the game and could have had many more goals but it was left to Calvin Zola to complete the rout with three minutes left when he fired into the bottom corner.
After the game acting manager John Sheridan said, “Obviously it was pleasing to score six goals and not concede. The main thing was to get the three points but a performance like that it makes it even better. I decided to play myself because sometimes some of the younger players need someone to boss them a bit. They need someone with a bit of leadership as it helps the younger players to perform better. Will took a bad knock on his mouth. He's banged his teeth and may need a bit of plastic surgery done but hopefully he'll be back soon.”
“Scott Vernon is a young kid and he's got 12 or 13 goals now so he's come into the side and is doing very well. He's got similar attributes to Teddy Sheringham. He's got that in his locker to score goals like that and there's plenty of goals in him. Good for him. You've got to be selfish when you're a striker and there's nothing wrong with that. He deserved his hat-trick because he played very well.”
“I said to John Eyre after the game I'd have broke my back if I'd tried that but Griff's (Adam Griffin) like that he's very acrobatic and he proved it there. He did well to get there and got a good connection on it and it flew in. JJ on his day is a livewire. He's always got that threat and great feet. One thing that does let him down sometimes is when he gets in the position to score, he sometimes snatches at it but he scored another goal. If he keeps getting in positions he'll keep scoring.”
“We took our feet off the gas a little bit in the second half but I was pleased with a clean sheet and pleased for Calvin to get a goal. It might just boost his confidence. Overall, I was very pleased. I thought out first half performance and our passing and movement was different class.”