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    22nd February 2002 
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 Oldham Evening Chronicle (www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk) Latics in bid to sign Rachubka AMBITIOUS Athletic are making moves to keep hold of highly-rated goalkeeper Paul Rachubka. They have asked Manchester United about the 20-year-old’s availability and were today waiting for a reply. Rachubka has been a big hit during his three-month loan spell, which ends after the match at Peterborough tomorrow. The England Youth ’keeper would cost a substantial fee – possibly £500,000 or more – but Athletic hope United are willing to sell. Chief executive Alan Hardy admitted: “We are interested in signing Paul permanently and have enquired about whether it’s possible. “Discussions have taken place and it’s now a matter of whether United will give their blessing.” Athletic have already raided United once this week, recruiting right-back Michael Clegg in a free transfer. After the captures of Chris Armstrong, Wayne Gill and Allan Smart, American-born Rachubka could take their spending to £1million since October. Clegg and Rachubka, who have often played in the same Old Trafford reserve team, could be reunited in the game at London Road. Athletic coach Mick Wadsworth has to decide whether Clegg (24) goes straight into the line-up or bides his time on the bench. Another question surrounds the midfield as Wadsworth may decide it is risky to play both Cristian Colusso – on loan with a view to a £2million transfer – and David Eyres in the same team away from home. John Sheridan and Lee Duxbury are out, but Darren Sheridan could be back in the squad after suspension and injury. ATHLETIC (from): Rachubka, McNiven, Baudet, Balmer, Armstrong, Murray, Appleby, Colusso, Eyres, Smart, Reeves, Kelly, Clegg, Holden, D Sheridan, Rickers, Corazzin, Hardy. Struggling Peterborough are sweating on the fitness of their top scorer, Leon McKenzie. He was forced off during the midweek defeat at Northampton and, along with full-back Marc Joseph, is doubtful with an ankle problem. PETERBOROUGH (from): Tyler, Joseph, Rea, Edwards, Williams, Oldfield, Forsyth, Bullard, Farrell, McKenzie, Forinton, Fenn, French, Connor, Cowan, McDonald, Danielsson, Green. Troubled Posh in the danger zone TOMORROW’S match at Peterborough looks the perfect opportunity for Athletic to get back on the winning trail. Posh are in trouble, hovering dangerously close to the drop zone after claiming only two wins since mid-October. Their run is made even more alarming by its unexpectedness – Barry Fry’s men were fifth in the table when the downward spiral began. Athletic, having lost to Bristol City and drawn with Tranmere in the last week, will face a team whose confidence has taken a battering. Peterborough also have problems off the pitch as, following a one-minute substitute appearance recently, striker Andy Clarke failed a drugs test. They are awaiting the results of the second test, followed by an FA hearing, and Clarke is unlikely to feature. Responsibility up front now rests with Leon McKenzie, a bubbly dangerman with a useful record at the club. He cost only £25,000 from Crystal Palace but, frustratingly for Fry, has a habit of picking up injuries. The most consistent player this term hasn’t been McKenzie, flying winger Dave Farrell or even Mark Tyler, a goalkeeper who has performed miracles against Athletic in past meetings. Instead, 11-goal midfielder Jimmy Bullard has shot to the fore since his summer free transfer from West Ham. When Posh do win, they do it in the style one associates with their ebullient manager. The move up to fifth place was achieved with a 4-1 hammering of play-off contenders QPR, while the victories since were 3-0 against Port Vale and 2-0 at Cardiff a week after the Welsh club knocked Leeds out of the FA Cup. Peterborough staged their own cup heroics against Newcastle, giving the Premiership title-chasers a big scare before succumbing 4-2. So Athletic, while favourites to emerge from London Road with the points, have had their warnings. Coach Mick Wadsworth said: “We can’t just win, win, win every week – we aren’t good enough to do that yet – but it’s important to get three points tomorrow. “There is a difficult week coming up against Peterborough, Brentford and Colchester and those games are equally important. “Every match has its pressures at this stage of the season, but the teams around us will all be feeling those same things “They will be beating each other, drawing with each other and taking points off each other. It’s very close and we need to stay in the middle of it all.” At Boundary Park in September, Athletic had a battle royal to beat Peterborough and go top of a league table – any league table – for the first time in a decade. Two substitutes did the trick, with Carlo Corazzin and the recently-transferred Matthew Tipton scoring right at the death. But underfoot conditions tomorrow will be treacherous as, in stark contrast to Boundary Park’s fine surface, the London Road pitch is notoriously bad. In conversations this week, it was described as a ploughed field, a mud-heap and various other unprintables. Not that Peterborough are happy about the situation – their players admit they now look forward to away games. 
 Dave at the Bookies                 Peterborough   Draw   Latics
BananaBet             6/4      11/5      6/4
Bet365                7/5      11/5      8/5
BetClass              6/4      17/8      6/4
Centrebet             6/4     23/10      6/4
Ladbrokes.com        11/8      11/5     13/8
OddsAlive             8/5     21/10      8/5
Paddy Power           7/5      11/5      8/5
Playboy Sportsbook   11/8      11/5     13/8
Playit.com            6/4       9/4      6/4
SportingOdds         11/8      11/5      8/5
Sports.com            6/4     21/10     13/8
UK Betting            6/4      11/5      6/4
William Hill          7/5      11/5      8/5
Yabet                 6/4       9/4      6/4 
 TEAMtalk (www.teamtalk.co.uk) Clegg set for debut 
Michael Clegg should make his debut for The Latics tomorrow against Peterborough but David Beharall, Lee Duxbury and John Sheridan are still out. Clegg is set to start at London Road after signing on a free transfer from Manchester United earlier in the week. The 24-year-old played, and scored, in the reserves' 3-0 win against Preston on Wednesday and Mick Wadsworth is poised to hand him his first senior outing at right-back on Saturday. However, defender Beharall, veteran Sheridan (both knee), and skipper Duxbury (hamstring), all miss the clash with The Posh. On-loan Argentinian midfielder Cristian Colusso, who scored his first goal in English football against Tranmere on Tuesday night, will definitely start and Darren Sheridan is also available again following injury and suspension. The play-off chasing Latics will be hoping to get their promotion push back on track, having taken just one point from the last six, but defiant boss Wadsworth insisted: "We are still in the hunt. "The other chasing sides will also lose before the season is over, that's for sure. "Despite dropping those points we are still in seventh place and we need to get another run going to put on a bit more pressure." 
Meanwhile, the game could be goalkeeper Paul Rachubka's last for the club as he is due to return to Manchester United after the game following his three-month loan spell. The trip could prove to be another stumbling block for Wadsworth's men as they will have to contend with the infamous London Road pitch, which Barry Fry has branded as one of the worst in the country. The Peterborough boss explained: "It is damn-near impossible to play on. It is like quicksand in places and that doesn't suit our style at all." Referring to Fry's comments Wadsworth added: "Maybe we will have to change the way we play." Oldham (squad): Rachubka, Clegg, Baudet, Balmer, Armstrong, Murray, Appleby, Colusso, Eyres, Reeves, Smart, Corazzin, McNiven, Holden, Hardy, Rickers, Kelly.

Latics to lose Rachubka 
The Latics are unlikely to try to keep Paul Rachubka at Boundary Park on a permanent basis as the keeper wants to return to Old Trafford. The 20-year-old stopper has had a successful three months on loan keeping eight clean sheets in his 15 appearances. He has played a key part in the Latics chase for a play-off place but the American-born youngster believes he still has a future at Old Trafford. French star Fabien Barthez is The Reds number one with Northern Ireland international Roy Carroll his deputy. Raimond van der Gouw is 38 and out of contract this summer and that could leave Rachubka stepping up to number three. He said: "I hope I have shown I can play at the next level up from the reserves and getting into the first team would be the next step." Rachubka moved to Oldham to gain league experience and will certainly return to United a better keeper. Mick Wadsworth is likely to spend next week looking for a replacement for Rachubka as Latics number one Gary Kelly is not expected to have made a full recovery from his knee injury until next month, while number two David Miskelly will not be ready for a return after a dislocated shoulder for a few more weeks.

Armstrong attracts interest 
Chris Armstrong is thought to be a possible Newcastle United target after Bobby Robson was at Boundary Park to watch the game against Tranmere. The former England manager fuelled speculation that he was looking at £3m rated midfielder Jason Koumas but The Latics defender could also have been in the frame. The 21-year-old has improved tremendously since former boss Andy Ritchie signed him from neighbours Bury in mid-October. He had only broken into the Shakers' first team last season and is now one of the most accomplished left-backs in the second division and possibly the most dangerous going forward. Armstrong has been The Latics man-of-the-match several times this season and could be an instant hit with the Toon Army as he was born and brought up in Newcastle.

Trio's fitness race 
Leon McKenzie faces a late fitness test while Simon Rea and Marc Joseph are rated 50/50 for Posh's home clash against play-off hopefuls Oldham. McKenzie has only played in 19 of the club's league matches this season, through a variety of different, unrelated problems, the most recent of which is a badly twisted ankle. Rea and Joseph are also rated as 50/50 after picking up knocks in the Tuesday night defeat at relegation threatened Northampton Town. And assistant manager Wayne Turner said: "Marc Joseph has got a sore calf after getting kicked on Tuesday and Simon Rea's greedy - he's got three different injuries." United go in search of their first win in nine games against Oldham, who have only ever won once at London Road in 10 attempts, and that was back in 1965. Three years later, Posh celebrated an 8-1 home win over the Lancashire club, which remains their best ever league victory on home turf. The chances of a repeat of that are somewhat slim, with Oldham pushing for a play-off place and Posh getting sucked into relegation danger. Oldham won 2-0 at home against Posh back in September, thanks to two goals in the last five minutes, including an own goal by Joseph. "They've changed a lot since then," added Turner. "They've got a new chairman, they've had a new management come in and a couple or three new players. "It's going to be tough, but we know we can beat Oldham. We beat them last season and we know we can do it again." Posh have not had a victory since they beat Darlington in the FA Cup on January 21, with three draws and five defeats since. And Turner said: "It's been very frustrating getting nothing from those eight games. "We were never outclassed in any of them. The games we lost we could have drawn, and the games we drew we could have won. "But I've analysed it and we're going for a new approach. We're going to play with a smile our faces and enjoy it. "It's too late in the season to be reminding the players what their jobs are. If they don't know now, they never will." Andy Clarke remains sidelined with the threat of a drugs ban hanging over his head, with Posh hopeful of being able to name an unchanged side for the fourth game running, if the injured trio come through their fitness tests. Posh (probable): Tyler, Williams, Rea, Edwards, Joseph, Oldfield, Forsyth, Bullard, Farrell, McKenzie, Forinton. Subs: Connor, Danielsson, Cowan, French, Fenn.

 Peterborough Evening Telegraph (www.peterboroughet.co.uk) Tom offers no excuses for defeat WHEN Posh crashed at Oldham early in the season, they were without virtually half a team and others played through the pain barrier. So Tom Williams - who was on show despite nursing a broken hhand that day - reckons there are no excuses for not beating a side still hopeful of a play-off place tomorrow. A vastly-understrength Posh team, forced to play a 3-5-2 formation due to desperate injury problems, battled valiantly against a then top-of-the-table Oldham before going down to two late goals at Boundary Park in September. That defeat still frustrates the 21-year-old full back who insists it is time for Posh to put their own attacking prowess ahead of stopping the opposition playing."That result proves Oldham are very beatable," said Williams. "We were ever so unlucky at their place considering the number of injuries we had made it a real makeshift team. "The last couple of games against Brentford and Northampton have been more about stopping them from playing rather than what we do, but tomorrow will be all about us. "Everyone was disappointed with the result at Northampton on Tuesday, but everyone in the club has got belief in themselves and each other. "Picking up a point is never a disaster, but we are getting a bit too close to the relegation zone comfort now and three would be much better for everyone. "It is a game we desperately need to win, but how we do it doesn't matter It is an old cliché, but the performance doesn't count tomorrow, only the result." 
And Williams has remained so upbeat through Posh's slide, he still dreams of a powerful closing run to take the club back into the top half of the table - with or without the services of star striker Leon McKenzie who is doubtful to feature tomorrow. "There are 12 games to go and getting up into the top half and finishing on a high is definitely possible. "When you start thinking that you have a cushion on the teams down below, you are playing a dangerous game and we are not going to get caught out doing that. We are only looking up. "Leon is always dangerous and is a huge loss to the team because he is our main outlet of pace and frightens defenders however well he is playing. "But Howard Forinton has plenty of strength up there and is doing well for us."  
Wayne keeps cool THE coolest head at London Road belongs to assistant manager Wayne Turner. The fans are panicking, the players are scratching their heads and the manager is getting understandably angrier by the match as Posh freefall towards the hell that is Third Division football. And yet the man in charge of coaching at London Road remains unflappable.He is as frustrated as the next fan with a desperate run of two victories since October 21, but Turner insists the ability to stay calm amid the ever-increasing pressure is crucial to the chances of survival. "The worst thing we can do is start panicking," Turner stated straight after the miserable 2-1 derby defeat at Northampton on Tuesday. "There are 13 games remaining and if we keep working hard in training and showing commitment on the field during matches we will be OK.
"The run of form sounds bad, but there have been plenty of draws in there that could easily have become wins with more good fortune and there have been unfortunate last-minute defeats."Obviously everyone's frustrated and that includes the players and the management, but it's not a time for us to lose our heads. What's going wrong we can definitely put right."The defending at set-pieces is an example of that and it's a job we've not been carrying out properly. That's been annoying because we've not just talked about the problem, we've worked on it non-stop and yet we don't seem able to put what we practice into effect, but we will I'm sure of that." The contrast in the form of tomorrow's combatants couldn't be more stark. Posh have won just twice in their last 18 Division Two matches while Oldham have lost just two of their last 18. Mind you form counts for nothing when teams are confronted with the swamp that masquerades as a football pitch at London Road. Turner added: "Oldham have been flying high for most of the season and they need the points tomorrow for very different reasons. They won't enjoy our pitch, but sadly playing on it every week is no real advantage for us. "The boys have started to look forward to away games more than home ones because of the chance of playing on a flat pitch which is a ridiculous situation considering how poor our results are on our travels. "You can't trust the simplest of passes on our pitch and the opposition at least have the comfort of only playing there once a season, but it's a fact of life with us and we just have to battle through it. "We'll get there and once we win one or two games everything will look a lot rosier." Irrepressibly irresistible in big home win Wednesday November 26, 1969. Posh 8, Oldham 1. Attendance: 4,796. POSH are desperate for a grubby 1-0 win achieved with a goal off someone's backside just now, but it hasn't always been the case. Just over 30 years ago Oldham visited London Road to face a Posh side fresh from an abject performance in losing to Chesterfield in a Fourth Division fixture the previous Saturday. The crowd was down, there was a sense of doom and gloom around the place and player-manager Jim Iley's undoubted influence on the side was again missing because of injury.
But in a display described as 'irrepressibly irresistible' by The Evening Telegraph, Posh took the lead in the first minute through Jim Hall and were 4-0 ahead after 13 minutes. It was 5-0 at half-time and by the final whistle Posh had recorded the biggest win in the club's Football League history, beating 7-1 wins against Mansfield in 1967 and Exeter and Aldershot in 1961. Hall finished with four goals, Welsh Under 23 cap Peter Price claimed a hat-trick and Bobby Moss also found the target as Tommy Robson ran rings round the opposition on the left-wing. Iley said: "It was our good football rather than Oldham's weaknesses that enabled us to get such an excellent result. Some of our attacking play was superb and few teams would have been able to live with us on that form." Sadly the win didn't herald a great run of form. Posh won only one of their next nine Fourth Division matches and eventually finished a disappointing ninth in the table. Iley lasted three more years in charge of Posh, Hall is now retired and living in Great Yarmouth while Price is involved on the coaching side of Unibond League outfit Emley. Robson mixes work as a property manager of a city-based newspaper with stints as a match summariser on Radio Cambridgeshire and a Saturday job in corporate hospitality at London Road.  The 8-1 scoreline remains Posh's biggest win at home in the Football League and has been bettered only by a 9-1 win at Barnet in September 1998. There was some disappointment for Posh fans though as the price of a celebratory pint increased from 2d to 4d that same day. Posh: Drewery, Potts, Noble, Conmy, Wile, Wright, Moss, Price, Hall, Holliday, Robson. Sub Garwood. 
Contributions and letters should be sent to Gary Davies by e-mail at LaticsGary@ntlworld.comor at Boundary Bullet-zine,41 Verney Road,Royton,Oldham,United Kingdom.OL2 6AZ07786 928689Or in the Setons Chaddy end Row R Seats 67 & 68Boundary Bullet-zine Archive can be found at http://www.oocities.org/laticsgary.geo.The views expressed on this e-zine are not the views of Oldham Athletic F.C. nor necessarily the views of the Editor.This e-zine is a unofficial publication NOT sanctioned by Oldham Athletic Football Club.The editor will not publish any letters containing bad language.This e-zine is written using Microsoft Outlook Express and is best viewed with the HTML (rich) text option enabled.