Opening day downer

Last updated : 11 August 2017 By The Chairman

The Latics opened up their new season with a 2-0 home loss to Oxford United. It was Oxford's first victory at Boundary Park.

John Sheridan commented, “Result-wise, it is hard to take, as you are at home on the first day of the season and wanting to get off to a good start. I don't think there was a lot between the two teams. The fine margins and obviously the two goals cost us. The performance was not too disappointing, though I don't think there was enough craft or nous high up the pitch. That is what the difference was. I was disappointed with the first goal as we had four defenders marking one player. A manager or coach can't make decisions on the pitch for players. The goal would have been avoided had someone stepped in another five or 10 yards to the lad receiving the ball, to contest it so that he could not turn and face us up. We should have scored just before that as well. The second goal was down to not tracking runners.”

“The performance was not too bad but again we haven't scored and we didn't work their goalkeeper enough. Craig Davies and Tope Obadeyi had good chances and other than that there were a few balls dropping in and around their goalkeeper. Higher up the pitch, they were better on the ball than us. When we got into wide areas, our distribution was not good and our crossing into the box was poor. I can't fault the effort from the players and I can take things from the game that will stand us in good stead for the rest of the season. I was really pleased with Ben Wilson. He didn't have much chance with the goals and in what he had to do, he was excellent.”