A 3-0 win, a check of coach and train times, maybe Manchester and a small bus journey............booked, that damn internet!
At Victoria Coach station early on Saturday morning to start a near five hour journey to Manchester purchased at a funfair rate of £9! Not bad until we hit the M6 and moving at a snails pace. Should be in at 13.20, plenty of time to get to Oldham and a couple of beers, I have the pub of choice printed out on a streetmap, but things take a grim turn when the driver gets off the motorway and decides to cut through......Stafford! Well, she's the professional!
Rejoin the M6, maybe 15mts. late when another shock, we're making unscheduled stops at Manchester Airport and, Stockport! For one bloke who the driver at London has done a favour for. Now I can be as fond of Stockport as anyone especially when we gain promotion and p off the whole of Wolverhampton in the process, however not at 13.45 and I've got to get the other side of town! My pint in the Rifle Range is fading with every delay.
Manchester at last, 14.10! Buses to Oldham from Piccadilly Gardens, run down to Piccadilly Station, buses must be from there, doh!, it's a good 10 mts. away! 14.29......a 24 bus is found after running around in circles and having a wee in a Canal Street pub, I was desperate, "hello love", hello love yourself I've got a game to go to! 14.30 the bus departs, how long?, "where you going", "Oldham football ground", "what, the football", "yes, the football", "be there at 14.56." 15.05 I see the ground, 15.10 I'm in! If anything happened in the first 10 minutes, tough, read another report. I had not had a beer, all day!!!
A training ground injury to Gilbert placed Hunt into the right back slot, a master stroke as it happened. Collis remained in goal and the rest of the side was as Gillingham. I'm presuming MacDonald was still injured as he was not on the bench, as he was not last week, apologies from my preview! Tilly lined up with four forwards on the bench and Super Cheese, another masterstroke as it happened.
Oh what joy it was to see the mighty Richards tower above the Oldham forward line, not the biggest it has to be said, but ex-con Hughes is always a handful, though it was handball that was his main contribution to the game and he was lucky to stay on the pitch with only one yellow card being smartly substituted by guess who in the second half.
In fact as Collis grabbed or punched the ball away from his own area, Barrett looking far more assured in the left back position than last week, Hunt chasing and tackling in the way that only Lewis can, Clarke learning from his ex-Farmer colleague, defending soundly and clearing his lines instead of trying to do a JCR in our own penalty area, we were cruising. The goal came as no great surprise.
The Prince, who had been having his usual running around, working hard, but not actually creating very much type of game, stuck out a right leg, knocked the ball over the head of his marking defender, went to go for it himself but the ball had run ahead to the very aware Leon Clarke who proceeded into the penalty box and smashed the ball past Crossley in the Oldham goal. With his brilliant lob last week and the power of this shot there was a double reminder of the Man who was Stan. Now Leon is not the new Stan, certainly not the new Freddie, but he's bloody good and with our newly found defensive stability there is real cause for optimism.
Then the 'referee' Mr. Kettle, who had already let several dubious Oldham challenges go but booked Clarke for reasons unknown, decided to take a larger part in the proceedings. As I'd decided to go for an early coffee I have to take the word of three separate witnesses to the incident. All agreed, it was a perfectly timed tackle on Davies, who had a touch of the Thortons about him, out by the corner flag a minute from half time. Up in the air he went, do they learn that in training, the crowd got up on their feet, as we would, and Mr. Kettle, who was 40 yards away on the edge of the area, came running over to brandish the red card and there was a shocked Richards, who had worked so hard to become a near certain regular in the side, seeing the next three and a half games disappear in front of his eyes, as was our newly found defensive stability, we believed, disappearing in front of ours! The usual melee of players surrounded the ref and a few handbags were thrown about but that was that for the first 45.
It was a long second half! On came Cheese as Adam moved back into the centre. Here we go again. No, not this game. Tilly kept two up front but Black was sacrificed. Macormack went deeper, where I'd like to see him anyway. The full backs, especially Hunt who had a tricky left winger to mark and even got booked having to bring him down on more than one occasion, were magnificent. Clarke and Barrett learnt from their lost colleague and grew several inches, brilliant, both of them. Collis in goal, who suprisingly had little to actually do so good were the players in front of him, breathed confidence. His positioning was superb as was his decision making when the inevitable crosses were peppered in, diving at the feet of an Oldham striker with minutes left pouncing on a loose ball. Thall shall not pass. Little Darryl must wait to come back into the side.
The forwards did everything asked of them with the scraps that came their way, Leon being substituted with 20 mts. left for a fresh pair of legs in Foran. Only Captain Kev, whose work effort cannot be faulted, seemed a touch out of sorts, too many passes going astray when possession was all. Mac on the other hand did not stop running, tackling hard and I truly believe he was not booked!
The nearest Oldham came to an equaliser even though they had 80% of the ball was in the 68th minute when full back Neal Eardley, back from international duty with Wales, saw a 20-yard piledriver hit the post. Sub Matt Wolfenden curled a shot just over from the edge of the box near the end which had a few Blues fans fearing the worst.
Time for one more chance for the home side and it brings another apology from me. In my preview I'd forgotten totally that Oldham had Ricketts on there books and a new slimline version as well and he lumbered on for Hughes half way through the second half. With minutes on the clock Mr. Kettle awards a free kick 30 yards from goal and right in the middle of the pitch. Up comes Ricketts, surely not a two fingers from our favourite pie eating forward, no, a weak shot beats the wall but is grabbed gratefully by the excellent Collis.
1-0 it is and the right result. The 300 odd Southend faithful rise as one on a suprisingly warm Oldham afternoon to give the players and management team well deserved applause and loud cheering. After 40 years of supporting this football team they never stop surprising me, one of the best of away days.
This time there was the 18.41 train to London which I picked up at £19 and only a three and a half hour journey. I slept through most of it hearing in my twilight zone the happy chat of returning Shrimpers, names slipping in and out of the darkness, "have you ever seen such a lazy player as Mark Gower", "David Webb", "JCR", "Michael Owen", "MICHAEL OWEN"......then I woke up, the shock of Mark Gower and Michael Owen in the same sentence was too much, Euston was 20 minutes away and I still hadn't had a drink!
A perfect day then as I got home and realised I'd left the wife's £90 Prada sunglasses on the train. Oh well, not fair to wake her. Wait till tomorrow.
Marks out of 10 and heroes all;
Collis - 9, Hunt - 9, Barratt - 9, CLARKE - 9, Richards - 8, Maher- 7, MaCormack - 8, Black - 7, (Wilson - 8), Clarke - 8, (Foran - 7), Harrold - 7.