Sheridan hopes to put one over

Last updated : 06 January 2007 By The Chairman
John Sheridan take his side to Molineux today in the hope of putting one over on his ex-Republic of Ireland team-mate Mick McCarthy. The Latics are coming off a run of four consecutive league wins which began at home to Northampton (3-0). This was followed by successes at Rotherham (2-3) and Gillingham (0-3) but the icing on the cake came with the 5-0 thrashing of the then league leaders Nottingham Forest.

Sheridan said, "I spoke to Mick, whom I obviously know from my Ireland days. We had a bit of a casual chat but didn't really talk much about the game. Mick will have had us watched and he'll know we can be a threat on our day and that it's not going to be an easy game. It's a very important game for us, a good test for us to see where we're at just now against a team from a higher division. Wolves are a very good side with lots of pace going forward and a bit of experience at the back. The Cup takes our minds off the league a little bit, and it's great for the fans. We'll take a big following there, and it's a nice stadium. I'll tell the lads to go out and enjoy it as we've got nothing to lose, but it's a game we can win and I want us to go as far as we can."

Paul Warne added his thoughts when he said, "The FA Cup games are a nice relief from the pressure of the league, but obviously we'll be going there to try and win the tie. I'm looking forward to it. There's no pressure on us and no one expects us to win. To think of it as 'a day out' sounds patronising, but the pressure is taken off. It's all on Wolves. They're the home side. We'll go out to attack them and see what happens. With say eight or nine of us on top of our game at any one time we shouldn't fear anyone."

Shez's counterpart, Mick McCarthy praised the Latics run of success ahead of the FA Cup game and added, "I know Forest were down to nine men eventually on Monday but to slap them 5-0 is no mean feat. It might do us a favour that Oldham are flying because we're not getting someone coming here from a division below and struggling with everyone on the outside thinking it's going to be a piece of cake. It won't be. It will be a really tough cup tie and the fact Oldham are right up there in their league gives it an added spice and makes it that little bit more interesting for everyone involved. When we got to the semi finals with Sunderland it certainly did us no harm because we ended up finishing third in the Championship. It's all about winning games. You don't have to sacrifice one for the other and even though we ended up with a busy spell of fixtures it didn't contribute to us losing in the play-offs. For me the FA Cup is still the best competition in the world. Others might say the Champions League but you don't get minnows going through in the Champions League and causing upsets like in the FA Cup. I've been on both sides, causing upsets or being on the end of upsets and let me tell you, that's not a nice feeling. Maybe because of the importance of staying in the Premiership or trying to get there some teams look at it differently but I used to love playing in it and managing in it as well. I certainly don't go in for resting players and any of that nonsense and if the worst happens and we don't get through it won't be because we've taken it lightly."