It was a case of “After the Lord Mayor’s Show” for the Latics when Doncaster Rovers visited Boundary Park. The euphoria of last weeks win over Manchester City paled into insignificence as Rovers walked away with all three points. They struck as early as the first minute through Blundell and McSporran made it two in the 81st. minute. Kevin Betsy fired wide early on and Hughes should have done better following a goalmouth scramble. Betsy spurned another chance on the half hour mark but then the game became scrappy.Oldham Athletic 1 Doncaster Rovers 2
It was a case of “After the Lord Mayor’s Show” for the Latics when Doncaster Rovers visited Boundary Park. The euphoria of last weeks win over Manchester City paled into insignificence as Rovers walked away with all three points. They struck as early as the first minute through Blundell and McSporran made it two in the 81st. minute. Kevin Betsy fired wide early on and Hughes should have done better following a goalmouth scramble. Betsy spurned another chance on the half hour mark but then the game became scrappy.Early in the second half Scott Vernon’s effort went across the goalmouth then later Kilkenny’s shot was bundled down before a Betsy headed was wide. With 7 minute remaining Vernon headed in from 8 yards from a Griffin cross to set up a Grandstand finish. Doncaster made two substiutions after 3 minutes of added time was signalled and their time wasting tactics were effective as they held out for their third success of the season on the road.
Talking to the official website, Tony Philliskirk (pictured) summed up, “Everybody has been saying about how well we did last week. We desperately tried to keep the lads feet on the ground. To be fair they responded well but I've got to give Doncaster a bit of credit, I thought they defended really well. The second goal was a cracking goal so that's probably killed the game off but I've got to be honest, I don't think we did enough to win the game. If you think on the balance of the play, we probably had the best chances but we didn't make the goalkeeper work when the chances came. I think what happened in the last kick of the game when there was a scramble and it was volleyed over the bar, just epitomised the game for us today."
"We had a little bit of luck last week and I think it went the other way today. It proves that football is full of swings and roundabouts. We're a little bit disappointed with how we played but I can't fault the lads for effort. We were saying that, myself and the gaffer on the sidelines today, that there's so many young lads they'll be up and down like that all the time."
"There's a little bit of expectation on their shoulders all of a sudden because of some recent good results and what happened against City. But we're going to get that and people have got to accept that, there's so may young players in the team, it's a big ask to ask them to perform at the top level week in, week out. That's what they strive to do and that's what we aim to try and teach them but there's so many young players I think you've got to expect that there will be ups and downs between now and the end of the Season.”