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Oldham away preview

Postby Sweden Stag » Thu Mar 24, 2022 5:44 pm

Following the very good and important 1-0 victory at Rochdale last Tuesday night, the first one for the Stags there since 1997, the Stags once again travel to the outskirts of Manchester. This time around, the trip is to Boundary Park, home of Oldham Athletic.

And Oldham might get an unwanted record if their current League Two position doesn’t change till the end of the current campaign. The Latics might be first club to have played in the Premier League (they played there in 1992-93 and 1993-94 respectively) to drop out of the EFL. Currently, Oldham have lost their last five league fixtures, although three of those have been to sides fighting for playoffs and automatics along with the Stags, most recently at home against Exeter and Sutton respectively.

Oldham’s slide has in fact been long overdue, mainly due to ownership problems leading to problems on the field. While the Stags experienced such things midway through the first decade of the 21th century (enough printed) our Saturday opponents, Oldham Athletic,facing the same thing. Since an ownership change took place following the Latics’ relegation from current League One in 2018 after a record 21 consecutive seasons there, the fortunes at Boundary Park have gone rapidly downhill. Currently, Oldham are bottom but one in the entire EFL with Scunthorpe rock-bottom seven points adrift of the Latics.

And some of Oldham’s home games were beset by fan protests against the current owners as the Latics now are in their worst League position since the start of the 1960’s, and fact is that Oldham had to seek re-election in each of the first two seasons ever at current League Two level, finishing 21st in 1958-59 and bottom but one, one point above Hartlepools (as they were called then) in 1959-60.

From that campaign on, Oldham improved, and they were promoted to the third tier together with
the Stags at the end of the 1962-63 season, the Stags’ first-ever promotion one.

Last season, the Stags performed their second EFL double over Oldham of all time (the first one was way back in 1961-62) as the away game in January last year ended in a Stags 3-2 victory and the final home game of last season ended in a 4-1 rout, a scoreline which could have been much higher. And it could have been very easy to understand why, and despite being involved in four goal-less games, Oldham scored and conceded goals left, right and centre all last season. The proof: Only promoted Cambridge United scored more goals overall (73 compared to Oldham’s 72). And at home, they scored more than two promoted sides did, but conceded 42,the most in League Two, and their home form was appalling with fifteen defeats, relegation form. But on the road, Oldham scored 41, only bettered by 43 of Cambridge, but conceded 39, the most along with then relegated Grimsby Town.

This season, Oldham have shown relegation form at home by losing eleven out of eighteen games at headquarters, yet were able to manage a 5-5 home draw against Forest Green before last Christmas. Earlier this season, the game between the Stags and Oldham at One Call ended in a goal-less stalemate.
In the 2018-19 season, the Stags could with luck have had three more points against Oldham than they eventually did gain. At home, it was the first-ever goal-less league draw between the sides in League history in a game which the Stags should have won, and at Oldham, a perfectly good equalizer deep into injury-time was wrongfully ruled out. But that equalizer could have gained the Stags a lucky point at Boundary Park.

In the League, the Stags and Oldham have before this season only faced each other in five seasons during the last half-century after having played against each other very frequently from the second post-war season up to the Stags’ FA Cup quarterfinals campaign in which Oldham were relegated to basement for the first time, albeit the Latics did not qualify for the new third a decade earlier.

Following relegation in 1968-69, it took Oldham two seasons to climb out of the basement. In the 1970-71 season, Oldham scored left right and centre a total of 88 League goals, and their final basement game to be for 47 years was a 1-1 home draw against Stockport County.

That was at a time when the Stags faced Oldham quite frequently in League fixtures, as the sides were promoted together in the Stags’ first-ever promotion season in 1962-63, the Stags in fourth position and the Latics in second as both sides were in the promotion reckoning all that campaign with the sides winning one home game each. The game at Oldham in October 1962 was watched by nearly 24000 who saw Oldham win 3-2 at Boundary Park. The game at Mansfield on March 9, 1963, was the Stags’ first FL game at all for over three months due to the severe winter conditions then. The Stags went on to win 4-2 thanks to three goals from Wagstaff and one strike from Hall.

Oldham later went on to play seventeen straight seasons at second level and therefore faced the Stags in their one season there in 1977-78. Then, the sides won the away games, Oldham 2-0 at Mansfield and the Stags by the only goal at Oldham late that season.

Oldham, who were one of the 24 founder members of the fourth tier, were also to be one of the 20 PL founder members but were ever-present at third level from the 1997-98 up to the final twenty minutes of the 2017-18 season and played the Stags in the 2002-03 season. The Stags’ trip to Boundary Park on September 14, 2002, was one to be quickly forgotten. A 6-1 rout after one of the Stags' worst performances that season. The home game at Field Mill on March 1, 2003, was one of poor refereeing. Just read through the Stagsnet report of that fixture to understand why. Three red cards (one of those on Keith Curle late on), referee rating 0 and a late converted Oldham penalty were things that very well summed up the Stags' most recent season above the basement division.

The 6-1 rout with a Maynard hat-trick in 2019 was the Stags’ first home victory against Oldham in League fixtures since February 5, 1972 in the third tier, when the Stags won to a 2-1 scoreline with Wignall and Fairbrother as Stags scorers.

In the EFL, the Stags and Oldham have before this campaign been playing together during 27 seasons, starting in 1935 with a 1-0 Stags home win on August 31, 1935. The sides were promoted together from the basement division way back in 1962-63, Oldham in 2nd position and the Stags in 4th, and also clashed in the Stags' so far solitary season at second level in 1977-78 with the sides winning their away games then. Oldham did play 21 consecutive seasons at League One level, a record for consecutive campaigns at that level. During that time, the Latics did change bosses almost every season. And none have lasted three full years since the reign of Joe Royle between 1982 and 1994. His predecessor, Jimmy Frizzell, also lasted twelve years, from 1970 to 1982 and was Latics boss when the Stags beat Oldham in February 1972. The 2018-19 season was also one of Oldham management instability, despite beating Fulham at their place to a 2-1 scoreline in the FA Cup third round. Their manager then, Pete Wild, left one month later to be replaced by Paul Scholes, once recent Manchester United great. But Scholes lasted only one month at Boundary Park, and Pete Wild returned into the Oldham hot seat, which have seen over twenty different names since September 2002. It was quite different when the sides played at second level in 1977-78. The Oldham boss then, Jimmy Frizzell, lasted twelve years from 1970 to 1982 as did his successor, Joe Royle, who also managed the Latics for a short time a decade ago. The last Oldham manager to see out a full EFL campaign was Lee Johnson in 2013-14. Since then, Oldham have had a dozen bosses in the Boundary Park hot seat. Harry Kewell, appointed last August, did not survive last season as he axed in early March and was succeeded by Keith Curle, who then just had been axed by Northampton Town . Not exactly the recipe for success, proved by sixteen defeats in 29 Oldham games since early March under difficult circumstances. But Keith Curle has also left the Oldham hot seat, did so last November. Currently, John Sheridan is in the Boundary Park hot seat for his sixth spell there. That spell started decently with seven games unbeaten, but since then (as noted above) five straight defeats.

At Oldham, just one game has finished without goals, and that was early on in the 1966-67 Division Three campaign. And after the 1-1 draw at Field Mill on September 2, 1967, Oldham played 29 consecutive league fixtures without a single draw.

In the 1960's, Oldham dumped the Stags out of the FA Cup twice in three seasons. Oldham player at that time: Billy Dearden, later to boss the Stags and was manager when the sides clashed in the League Cup early on in the 2007-08 campaign. John Thompson, later to play for the Stags, starred for Oldham then and played in that game which ended in a 4-1 defeat for the Stags.

Played for both sides: Oladapo Afolayan, Eric Betts, John Bingham, Paul Black, Alfred Brown, Joel Byrom, Giles Coke, Craig Davies, Zander Diamond, Emmanuel Dieseruvwe, John Dungworth, Ben Futcher, Alex Iacovitti, Jake Kean, Ged Keegan, Brian Kilcline, Bob Ledger, Adrian Littlejohn, Scott McNiven, Jacob Mellis, Neil Moore, Kenneth Murray, Christopher Ogden, Keigan Parker, Martin Pemberton, John Ryan, Arthur Sharp, Alan Sheehan, Chris Staniforth, Steve Taylor, Stuart Thom, John Thompson, Matthew Tipton, Paul Warne, Steve Whitehall, Jonathan Worthington.

Managed both sides: Keith Curle.

Stats on league games:

Home stats: P 28, W 14, D 6, L 8, GF 55, GA 38.
Away stats: P 27, W 3, D 9, L 15, GF 29, GA 54.

Season Home Date Away Date

1935-36 1-0 1935-08-31 1-4 1935-12-28 Div 3 (N)
1936-37 1-2 1936-11-14 1-1 1937-03-20 Div 3 (N)
1947-48 1-1 1948-01-03 1-1 1947-08-30 Div 3 (N)
1948-49 3-2 1948-09-18 0-4 1949-02-05 Div 3 (N)
1949-50 3-1 1949-12-26 0-1 1949-12-27 Div 3 (N)
1950-51 3-1 1950-12-26 0-2 1950-12-25 Div 3 (N)
1951-52 2-1 1952-02-23 3-5 1952-05-03 Div 3 (N)
1952-53 0-2 1952-12-27 0-1 1952-12-26 Div 3 (N)
1954-55 1-3 1955-01-29 1-1 1955-01-08 Div 3 (N)
1955-56 2-0 1955-09-05 1-1 1955-09-12 Div 3 (N)
1956-57 2-4 1956-09-22 1-1 1957-02-02 Div 3 (N)
1957-58 4-4 1957-11-02 1-1 1958-03-15 Div 3 (N)
1960-61 1-2 1961-04-03 1-3 1961-03-31 Div 4 (old)
1961-62 2-0 1962-03-26 3-2 1961-11-15 Div 4 (old)
1962-63 4-2 1963-03-09 2-3 1962-10-20 Div 4 (old)
1963-64 1-1 1963-11-23 0-1 1964-04-04 Div 3 (old)
1964-65 4-1 1964-08-29 1-2 1964-12-19 Div 3 (old)
1965-66 1-0 1966-02-21 1-1 1966-03-05 Div 3 (old)
1966-67 2-4 1966-09-04 0-0 1966-09-27 Div 3 (old)
1967-68 1-1 1967-09-02 0-1 1967-11-14 Div 3 (old)
1968-69 4-0 1968-09-07 2-2 1969-03-28 Div 3 (old)
1971-72 2-1 1972-02-05 1-2 1972-04-08 Div 3 (old)
1977-78 0-2 1977-11-26 1-0 1978-04-08 Div 2 (old)
2002-03 0-1 2003-03-01 1-6 2002-09-14 Div 2 (Current League One)
2018-19 0-0 2018-10-02 2-3 2019-04-22 League Two
2019-20 6-1 2019-10-12 1-3 2020-01-28 League Two
2020-21 4-1 2021-05-01 3-2 2021-01-13 League Two
2021-22 0-0 2021-10-09 (at One Call) League Two

Cup games:

FA Cup:

1947-48 1-0 1947-12-13 2nd round at Boundary Park
1963-64 2-3 1963-11-20 1st round at Boundary Park
1965-66 1-3 1965-11-13 1st round at Field Mill
1997-98 1-1 1997-11-15 1st round at Boundary Park
1997-98 0-1 1997-11-25 1st round replay at Field Mill
2013-14 1-1 2013-12-07 2nd round at Boundary Park
2013-14 1-4 2013-12-17 2nd round replay at One Call Stadium
2015-16 0-0 2015-11-07 1st round at One Call Stadium
2015-16 0-2 2015-11-17 1st round replay at Boundary Park

League Cup:

2007-08 1-4 2007-08-14 1st round at Boundary Park

EFL Trophy:

2016-17 2-0 2017-01-10 EFL Trophy 3rd round at One Call Stadium

Come on Mansfield!
Stockholm, July 4, 2008, 15.00 GMT. Good news came, K.H. gone. March 1, 2012. Ground purchased.
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