Currently, there isn't many harder things to take than losing to Wigan. A club with little identity of their own, taken, borrowed or stolen from other football league clubs, our Lancashire rivals (uses term "rivals" loosely) must be about as popular with Real Latics fans as Blackburn, Bolton or Bury - or if Ian Stott had his way, Lancashire North End. Let them have it!
Ok, rant over now. Well, this was a bitter defeat for a very wounded Oldham side to take and to not stick the boot in first would be missing out on an opportunity. In truth though, Wigan fans must have headed back on the M62 laughing like hyenas. The ease with which they bowled over a punchless, aimless and sometimes damb-right gormless Oldham side would have meant the pies would be well and truly divulged with pleasure come Saturday evening. (Oh, I must stop stereotyping now, but it really is the only way to write this up and enjoy it.)
Now, with the atrocious news that Clyde Wijhnard will probably never play for us again, fans must begin to contemplate a struggle to stay in the hunt after this season had offered so much promise. It's almost as if the scent of promotion was too good to believe. As soon as you start thinking it could happen, our captain and our top-scorer are ruled out for the season and major players elsewhere hit the sicklist too.
Infact, injuries are so bad that this team nearly looks like a 3rd team in places. No disrespect to those filling in, but Josh Low's absence is the perfect example. This is how bad it gets... Low is out, so Dean Holden should fit in perfectly. Wait, no he's injured too so we must turn to Michael Clegg. Well he's not proven anything and Dowie's more or less stated he isn't good enough. So we take out highly influential centre-midfielder Murray from his berth to cover and we are left looking totally unhinged. But there is little other choice, the scenario is as ludicrous as it is real.
Paul Jewell, a man that is about as popular with me as the plague, continues to spout filth from his mouth by suggesting "oh, they only had 2 injuries." Maybe he forgot to learn how to count at school. With Hill and Wijhnard out, add to the list Carss, Low and Eyre who was forced off after 12 minutes. Maybe his eyes need testing too as he clearly missed that one. And as replacements for these, Holden and Appleby are out too. Two injuries, my a***.
However, the facts are this - we must cope, we must be able to put out a side that can compete and we mustn't blame yet another atrocious referee for our performances. In essence, we must have a side that has enough to display championship quality and as it is, we're a long way off it. Dowie isn't too blame. This is a no win scenario and a fight to keep a play-off place looms.
As always though, Dowie is picking out the positives - yet again. I find it amazing he found some. Is it that only Eyre was injured? Let's face it, Sheridan and David Eyres face suspensions after being victims of a card happy referee (impostor!). Add to this the small fact that we lost in humiliating fashion to THEM! and we look a shadow of a team because of injuries, ones which will be with us for some time yet. The positives are becoming harder to find each week. Now it's time to find the answers.
Despite what many believe, Wigan were not fantastic, infact far from it. We actually made them look good by failing to penetrate upfront for 90 minutes. A distorted midfield and a lukewarm forward line, with Killen who is yet to show a glimpse of the player he was bought for, offered little but discarded Christmas present wrappings. The gift too Wigan was 2 pathetic goals for Wigan and 3 points, all of which came through just 3 attacks of their own. Oh and a laugh at our expense. Fair play, we've laugh at their expense for years!
However, although Wigan failed to create many chances either, defensively they did well enough against a toothless tiger. In midfield, Jarrett and co. were first to every ball and when it looked like an Oldhamer would win a challenge or be first to the ball, the visitors were nipping infront and taking possession. And upfront, Ellington and Roberts were the pain in the proverbial that any side playing away from home needs to have.
Focusing on the fact that Wigan were first to every ball though, the lack of bottle on our part smacked of our 3-0 humiliation away at Brighton last season. Few, if any in the side, deserved credit that day; just like in this one. Being fair though, Hall and Pogliacomi did show a glimpse of their usual selves. Baudet was encouraging, but that was overshadowed because he was largely to blame for both goals. Berehall and Armstrong were, quite frankly, somewhere else. Clueless, mindless and a liability throughout. It's not nice to say that, but it is true that they played their worst games in an Oldham shirt.
During a very lively opening half, chances were hard to come by but the odd free-kick created a murmur around the ground and Baudet narrowly headed wide of a post on the half hour mark. For Wigan, a ball into space allowed Roberts' a clear site on goal, but Pogi spread himself well to save from the angle.
It took 38 minutes for the first effort on target and it turned out to be Wigan's opener. A ball in from the right wing found Roberts with 4 defenders around him, but nobody tight on him. Space was at a premium and with defenders all stood watching each other, a perfectly chested ball to Ellington only had one outcome written all over it. Despite a valiant effort by Pogi to save, his fingertips couldn't divert the ball from slotting into the far bottom corner. 0-1.
That ended a furious, but chance-starved half. The hosts came out brighter in the 2nd half but again, chances failed to materialise and so did the spirit of the side. The play became one dimensional as Wigan's defenders easily cut out the long balls and walked back through an Oldham midfield as though it wasn't even there. Well, in truth it wasn't! Frustration began to set in and finally a killer 2nd goal arrived for Wigan. Baudet was again found wanting of his marking when Jason De Vos burst free at a corner to glance home a header. It was simple stuff; the type which the Frenchman must have forgotten whilst sitting on the bench. 0-2.
The real Latics looked to rally and within seconds of going a goal down, Corazzin should have done better when substitute Vernon set him up. The youngster had beaten the offside trap with a superb run and from the byline cut it back to the Canadian. However Carlo leaned back and thrashed his effort wide of the near post. That could have been the lifeline. Instead the referee set about killing off any hopes of that.
On 65, Eyres was amazingly booked for being the one elbowed in the face. Wigan's player also got a yellow, but it was a swing of the arm which possibly deserved a red. Ironically though, it was former Wigan player Darren Sheridan who took that award. A 2nd booking for a silly altercation meant he walked but to be fair, this game was never the sort which would usually herald 9 yellows and a red. It was no surprise that the official Oldham site had warned us about this referee last week. The handling of his last game before ours (Coventry vs Sjoke 2 reds, 11 yellows) got nationwide coverage. We shouldn't be surprised.
You cannot blame a referee for defeat though. And you cannot accept either that Wigan were far superior. We allowed them to be better than us. We must question our own performance rather than just accepting the better team on the day won - which they did. If they were good, we had to be even better but that was never the case. And unless something changes in our skeleton squad, depleted further by impending suspensions, then we're in for a tough Christmas. And even tougher new year!