Athletic started without a hangover from the Spurs midweek drubbing and struck first through a fantastic David Eyres (pictured) 35 yard free kick which flew past Davison like a rocket. The Latics dominated the first half and should have been ahead as early as the 7th. minute but Eyres shot wide from 12 yards. John Eyre also forced the U’s keeper to make a good save in the 15th. minute. when he shot from the edge of the penalty box. Eyres was in the thick of it again on the half hour when he fed Will Haining but again the effort went wide and then Chris Killen forced another save.Oldham Athletic 1 Colchester United 1
Athletic started without a hangover from the Spurs midweek drubbing and struck first through a fantastic David Eyres (pictured) 35 yard free kick which flew past Davison like a rocket. The Latics dominated the first half and should have been ahead as early as the 7th. minute but Eyres shot wide from 12 yards. John Eyre also forced the U’s keeper to make a good save in the 15th. minute. when he shot from the edge of the penalty box. Eyres was in the thick of it again on the half hour when he fed Will Haining but again the effort went wide and then Chris Killen forced another save.The tables turned in the second half as Colchester came out with all guns blazing looking for an equaliser. They would have got it through May in the 55th. minute but for the timely intervention of Dean Holden and Mark Arber who forced a corner. Unfortunately, the U’s scored from the resulting corner when Halford's near post header looped over Craig Mawson for the leveller. From this point on the game began to drift but Jermain Johnson could have won it in the dying seconds but his 12-yard effort was parried away by the keeper. When will he start to take his chances?
A disappointed Brian Talbot said, “I think it's two points lost, not a point gained today. At half-time we had them on the ropes and maybe we should have been more than one up but we weren't. In the second half we lost our rythm and a bit of cohesion. Killen coming off didn't help and we lost John Eyre from midfield but that's what happens in football. Again we let a set piece in. There's no reason for Adam Griffin not to be on the back post and it's just a boot away. They were never going to play a short corner and they just clipped one in, he flicked it on and it went to the back post and in. He didn't try to score. If we lose our discipline like we did in the last ten minutes by throwing men forward we have to be careful we're not going to lose it. For all our play, I think they had 6 shots and we had 18 but we didn't really create a lot of chances in the second half.”