Oldham Athletic 0 Bristol City 0
Last updated : 20 October 2004 By The Chairman
The main action of Athletics draw with Bristol City was the dismissal of Jermain Johnson (pictured) who had just returned from representing Jamaica in the Reggae Boyz World Cup qualifying games. JJ received a yellow card in each half and missed the easiest chance of the night to score. The result means that the Latics have now gone seven games without a victory although the point was enough to get them out of the four relegation spots as both Blackpool and Torquay lost. Danny Coles was the player that clashed with JJ to earn him his first yellow. Kevin Betsy blasted high over the bar in the first minute when a square ball to David Eyres could have done more damage.
The match was evenly balanced but JJ could have won it with 15 minutes to go when the City keeper saved a point blank header. Soon afterwards Johnson was dismissed after a clash with Hill, but the truth was that he was still seething with the first half incident with Coles. The lack of consideration by JJ was a cruel blow for the team. The red card means that JJ will miss Saturday’s home visit of Bournemouth.
Under fire manager Brian Talbot said, “I think you always want to win games of football wherever you play, whether it's on the park, a league game or a five a side in training, you want to win. If you take everything in context tonight, playing against a team which is highly rated and getting a man sent off with 15 minutes to go at the end of the game you've got to be satisfied with the performance which was good. We could have got a goal early on in the game when we were on top or when Vernon and Johnson got their chances in the 2nd. half. When I look back I think we could have won 1-0 but overall I've got to be very happy with the performance.”
“I think we started very well the first 15 minutes and then they got a couple of set pieces when we weren't really alive to the situation. That seemed to give them more momentum and they got back in it. Then it was an even steven game to be honest and went backwards and forwards. They've got dangerous players, the two strikers are dangerous. Murray can run with it well but when Betsy and Johnson are running with it we are dangerous and I think we had the best chance of the night through Johnson's header. JJ said he was hit with an elbow and he saw red. We tried to calm him down and thought we did. His first one was a poor booking and the second one I think was a foul. He slid across to try and get the ball and caught the player. It wasn't a bad tackle. I think he went for the ball and mistimed it. It's a difficult job as a referee and I'm not one for criticising referees as everyone's got a hard job in football and he's doing his best.”