Ten minutes of madness costly

Michael Shepherd of AFC Oldham gets the ball forward under pressure.

AFC Oldham 2005 0, Alkrington Dynamos 3

A 10-MINUTE spell of defensive madness just before half time effectively cost AFC Oldham the game in this Lancashire and Cheshire League division one clash with Alkrington Dynamos at Oak Pit.

The local outfit started brightly enough, with early efforts from Aaron Murdoch and Lee Robinson testing the visiting defence.

Alkrington weathered the early storm and responded in devastating fashion.

Two clinical finishes from Alkrington, after 31 and 35 minutes, put Oldham on the back foot — the defence failing to deal with crosses from the right on each occasion.

Worse was to follow six minutes later as Alkrington increased their lead when goalkeeper Lee Mullin was left hopelessly exposed and, despite his best efforts, was unable to prevent a third goal.

Oldham hit back gamely 60 seconds later with a Murdoch effort being ruled out for offside.

But there was more misery for Oldham two minutes before the break when Murdoch picked up a second caution and was sent off, making what was an already difficult task virtually impossible.

The second half saw Oldham taking the fight to their opponents, with a Michael Shepherd shot rattling the crossbar.

Nathan Doe fired just wide as the hosts tried hard to salvage something from the game.

Shepherd and Ray Radcliffe impressed for Oldham, who were without three key players for various reasons.

Oldham secretary Dave Ball said: “We badly missed the players who were absent.

“We also let ourselves down with some sloppy defending.

“Normally, the backline is pretty competent, but the goals we conceded should have been defended better.”

AFC OLDHAM 2005: Mullin, Wacka, Shaw, Dean, Radcliffe, Gibson, Arrowsmith, Robinson, Doe, Murdoch, Shepherd. Subs: Hope, Eastmond, Thompson, Gibson.