Torquay United 2 Oldham Athletic 0
Last updated : 07 November 2004 By The Chairman
The Latics pushed the self destruct button yet again with an abysmal display at lowly Torquay. Playing an unusual 5-3-2 formation, they could have taken the lead in the first minute but Aaron Wilbraham blasted over the bar. Torquay took the lead in the 9th. minute after Constantine skipped round Danny Hall and Les Pogliacomi to volley an easy goal, and they went on to dominate the half without finishing the visitors off.
The Latics had some success in the 55th. minute as they forced a corner (!) but the Gulls looked like they were happy to settle for a 1-0 victory and the game faded. Torquay did get a second in the 70th. minute when Gritton put one in off the post and that was game over! Poggsy and Arbor showed a distinct lack of communication and almost gifted the Gulls another goal seven minutes from time.
The Latics have now won only one game in 10 league outings and Wilbraham’s shot in the first minute was their only real chance in the game. This disaster pushes the Latics deeper into trouble and it is almost reaching crisis point.
Brian Talbot said, “We've got to be disappointed with the performance. I thought the first goal was a bad goal and then we were pushing for the second one with pressure on their goal and they broke away and scored. The lads didn't think that it was over the line but at the end of the day, the linesman was in a good position. But we didn't create enough chances, did we? And if you don't create enough chances to score a goal then you can't win a game of football.”
“People are wondering what I'm going to do about it and all I'll say is that I'm going to do the best I can with the players that I've got. They've got to look at themselves as well, the players and everyone at the club. We're in a relegation battle and we've got to address it. We've got no Johnson, no Jack. We've got no Betsy, no Killen, four strikers at the club who are on decent money. So I suppose unless you can bring players in, you've got to work with what you've got. We didn't get enough crosses in and we didn't hold the ball up well enough. The ball kept breaking down so therefore people will blame me. But at the end of the day we didn't get enough shots on target did we? Nowhere near.”
