| Yesterday's clash had all the hallmarks to be the game of the season at Gresty Road, but the team, despite playing well, gave away two silly goals, and Oldham ran away with the points in what was a horrible game to watch (and I'm not talking about Iain Dowie's face!). We haven't come up against one side who are technically better than us this season, so why are we giving away points to promotion contenders? It is not on. Oldham were pretty bad - they didn't string more than five passes together, and all their attacking play was from set pieces or from Crewe mistakes. Perhaps thats why they're unbeaten away. Their defence was organised, and well drilled, and the Hulse/Ashton partnership found it hard to penetrate it. Rodney Jack and Kenny Lunt were the most dangerous Crewe players (in fact this is the best performance from Lunt at Gresty Road I have seen for ages). We should have been at least 3-1 up at half time, but bad refereeing, wateful build-up play and spectacular goalkeeping all denied Hulse, Ashton and Lunt in the first half. We were by far the better side, but we didn't make it count, and Corazzin's hit and hope from a corner was the difference between the sides at half time. Corazzin found himself free when the static Sorvel just stood thinking about anything other than the game, and the Latics' were in front. A hungry looking Lunt carved out the opener with a delightful ball into the box for that man Hulse to headin his 20th of the season. Cue wild celebrations in the almost full Gresty Road and Railtrack stands. From then on, I could not see them scoring, and I thjought they'd just try to soak up the Crewe onslaught. If Hulse was to leave next month, then promtion would be so much harder to achieve, so I'm urging Dario and John Bowler to ignore any offer under £10m for him!
Five minutes after Hulse's goal, Foz brought down Andrews, and the rest is history. It deserved a penalty, as the otherwise immaculate Foster panicked and totally upended the pacey forward. It was a good penalty from Eyres, Ince had no chance. From this moment on, David 'I'm a Premiership standard referee you know' Ellary, totally ruined the game with his ridiculous decisions. The sending off of Foster was cruel. He got the ball (as far as I could see), but it was right in front of the Oldham fans, so he sent Foster off.
It was a reckless tackle, but we saw Bergkamp the other week kicking that Blackburn player to pieces, and Steven Gerrards dangerous lunge on Gary Naysmith yet the referee gave nothing in these two circumstances. Foz went off to a standing ovation from the Crewe fans - a nice touch. So we're back to square one. A battering of Mansfield in New Years Day would do us the world of good, and judging by this performance, we will be up for it. |
