10th September 2000
10th September 2000 THE sorry statistic of just one point from the last 15 tells it all. The trouble is, Oldham rarely looked like ending their dismal league run. Worse still, they picked up three bookings and ended the game with nine men. Centre backs Shane Garnett and Mark Hotte both saw red after picking up two yellows. It left boss Andy Ritchie having an after match blast at the officials. He raged: “There was not a bad tackle all afternoon yet players were booked for absolutely nothing. Of course I am worried about our results but I was more worried about the performance of the officials. But I cannot say too much otherwise I will be in trouble. The officials lock themselves away for half an hour after games these days and you cannot even have a chat with them.’’
Oldham made a slow, hesitant start against a Wrexham outfit which was still looking for its first home win of the season and they were left chasing the game after just nine minutes when Trinidadian international Hector Sam was left with just keeper Gary Kelly to beat. It would be the bravery of Kelly which was later to keep the Latics in the contest when he made three fine saves just before the break. But he was again left with no hope two minutes after the restart when Oldham fell further behind. Chris Killen, signed on loan from Manchester City 24 hours earlier, grabbed a comfortable debut goal. There was more trouble in store when big defender Garnett was sent off in the 63rd minute.
Then, as often happens, it was 10-man Oldham who began to show more fight and spirit and with seven minutes left they gave themselves a slim chance of salvaging something when Canadian striker, Carlo Corazzin headed home his third goal of the season following a superb right wing cross from substitute Matthew Tipton. But in a frantic finish Wrexham put the game out of reach when the lively Sam bagged his second goal. It was then that the visitors were down to nine men that Hogg was given his marching orders for a foul. A disappointed Ritchie added: “We shot ourselves in the foot - and we keep doing it. We cannot afford to keep giving goals away, especially sloppy ones. We now have to pick ourselves up for Tuesday night’s trip to Reading - and we will’’.
Sports.com
Oldham finished with nine men and a furious manager Andy Ritchie saying: "There wasn't a bad tackle in the game yet we have two sent off. We were the better side even when we were down but we gave away a silly second goal." Shaun Garnett and Mark Hotte were the Oldham players to get red cards in a game that never boiled over, yet had four other players cautioned. Hector Sam, Wrexham's quick-silver Trinidadian, collected a pinpoint Darren Ferguson pass in the ninth minute, turned past Garnett and hit home. The turning point in Oldham's fortunes came in the 19th minute when a great save by Wrexham's Kristian Rogers kept out an Andy Holt header that was going into the top corner.
Oldham had to thank, however, keeper Gary Kelly at the other end, who pulled off three smart saves to deny Carlos Edwards, twice, and Mark McGregor. It was another superb pass by Ferguson that put Wrexham two goals clear in the 47th minute. On-loan Manchester City striker Chris Killen took the ball in his stride and his shot was helped into the Oldham net by defender Paul Jones. Oldham finally put Wrexham to the sword in the 82nd minute when the battling Carlo Corazzin headed a neat goal from a right cross by Matthew Tipton.
There was high drama in the final minute. Gary Kelly got a hand to a Sam shot. His clearance struck Wrexham substitute Andy Morrell and as the keeper tried to recover Sam nipped in, took the ball around him and slotted it into the yawning net. Referee Mr Phil Dowd then showed a red card to Mark Hotte which was later cleared up. The referee had in fact shown him his second yellow card for a foul seconds before the final goal which he had allowed Wrexham to play the advantage rule.
Yahoo league table
| Pos. | Team | Pl | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walsall | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 9 | +6 | 15 |
| 2 | Bury | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 6 | +2 | 13 |
| 3 | Wycombe | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 3 | +4 | 12 |
| 4 | Cambridge | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 4 | +6 | 11 |
| 5 | Wigan | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 10 |
| 6 | Notts Co. | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 6 | +1 | 10 |
| 7 | Millwall | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 9 |
| 8 | Stoke | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 8 |
| 9 | Colchester | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 6 | +1 | 8 |
| 10 | Peterborough | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 9 | -1 | 8 |
| 11 | Port Vale | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 6 | +2 | 7 |
| 12 | Northampton | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 7 |
| 13 | Reading | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 7 | -1 | 7 |
| 14 | Rotherham | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 12 | -5 | 7 |
| 15 | Bristol R | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 6 |
| 16 | Wrexham | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 7 | +1 | 6 |
| 17 | Brentford | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 7 | -3 | 6 |
| 18 | Swansea | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 5 |
| 19 | Luton | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 7 | -3 | 5 |
| 20 | Oldham | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 13 | -4 | 4 |
| 21 | Swindon | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 9 | -7 | 4 |
| 22 | Bristol C | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 3 |
| 23 | Bournemouth | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 7 | -3 | 3 |
| 24 | Oxford | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 12 | -8 | 1 |
Sporting Life Weekend Review
Walsall's five-match winning spree came to an end at Gigg Lane where goals from Chris Swailes and Sam Collins gave second-placed Bury a 2-0 win. Notts County failed to make up ground, held 1-1 at home by Bristol Rovers who led for half an hour through Nathan Ellington's fourth of the season until Mark Stallard's sixth of the campaign levelled things in the 89th minute. Jamie Forrester and Steve Howard scored the goals which gave Northampton a 2-0 win at Luton, their first-ever victory at Kenilworth Road, while Neil Harris left it late, netting in the 89th minute to give Millwall a 1-0 win over Swansea at the New Den.
Stoke got off the mark at the Britannia Stadium, their first home win coming through Kyle Lightbourne, Stefan Thordarson and Graham Kavanagh, scorers in the 3-0 win over Peterborough. Swindon, 1-0 winners at Bristol City through Alan Reeves, and Wrexham 3-1 winners over Oldham, collected their first three-point ration of the season.
Oldham saw Hector Sam net twice together with on-loan Chris Killen before Carlo Corazzin replied but they finished with nine men when Shaun Garnett and Mark Hotte were sent off for second bookable offences.
Brentford's miserable run continued with a 4-0 thrashing at Reading where Jamie Cureton bagged a hat-trick to take his tally to seven for the season, and Darren Caskey added a penalty. Rotherham, out of sorts after losing striker Leo Fortune-West to Cardiff, took an early lead at Cambridge when Mark Robins scored his sixth of the season.
Then the roof fell in on the Millers, Ian Ashbee (2), Tom Youngs (2) Zema Abbey and James Axeldal scoring in a 6-1 rout, the biggest win of the day. Simon Haworth was another hat-trick king, grabbing all three for Wigan as they demolished highly-placed Colchester 3-1, the reply coming from Karl Duguid.