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The team was rotated slightly from Wednesday, with Danny McDonald taking up the gloves. Jake McEneaney was rested to the bench and his place was taken by Man Utd youngster Kenny Strickland, on a work experience loan and looking for a contract. Oliver Devenney came in on the right hand side of midfield and Liam Newman partnered goal-machine Wes Fletcher up front.
When you play Oldham you know what you are getting - a hard, physical game. The early exchanges of the match created no real chances for either team and it was all about two teams battling for dominance. When a sight of goal was finally found it was us with the opening. Good interchange from Strickland and Michael King on the left ended with a cross into the box. Fletcher flicked the ball up off the deck and Newman snapped a volley goalwards, but it just looped over the bar. We also had a long range shot from Devenney which cleared the bar following the clearance of a corner.
Around half an hour in the ref decided to show us the game was all about him as Strickland was booked for kicking the ball away, even though an Oldham player had escaped punishment for the same just minutes later. This was followed shortly with a booking for the Oldham forward, which even Burnley fans struggled to see a reason for.
When we managed to get the upper hand in the game it was no surprise who broke the deadlock. Fletcher had just seen a shot deflected over the bar when it looked destined for the top corner when he sniffed out another chance and pounced. A bouncing ball was misread by the Oldham centre half and when he stumbled, Fletcher nipped in and poked it past the keeper. Before half time we had doubled the lead and it was again the red-hot forward.
We played the ball across our back line and up the left wing where it found Fletcher. He dropped his shoulder and drew the full back, skinning him easily and bursting into the box. The keeper stood tall but there was only going to be one outcome and the ball hit the back of the net.
The second half started with a bang for Oldham as they won a penalty following a poorly thought out challenge from King. The Oldham forward found the back of the net with a powerful strike, though McDonald was unlucky after diving the right way. Following this goal the best chances seemed to be falling to the visitors, though in truth they were few and far between.
They made a good break again with their dangerous number 10. Having scored from the spot he was clearly hungry for more and his run down the right and into the box was unfortunate to end with a shot past the far post. There was also a scrambled effort which deflected wide with McDonald struggling. The corner which followed was met by No 10 but his header just flashed over the angle of post and bar.
For us we could only muster two efforts from the trialist, with first a shot from the edge of the area blocked, and then a long range free kick just tipped over by a stretching keeper.
All in all not pretty, but effective. Obviously this will have been the final Gawthorpe appearance for some of these lads but for those who can make it, Oldham away is an easy venue to find and all support for this final push will be welcome.
Team:- Danny McDonald, Dan Brown, Kenny Strickland, Nik Kudiersky, Chris Lynch, Oliver Devenney, Michael King, Alex-Ray Harvey, Chris Anderson, Liam Newman (Dom Knowles), Wes Fletcher.
Subs not used:- Stef Ritchie, Jake McEneaney, Dil Chaggar.