OLDHAM ATHLETIC 3, COLCHESTER UTD 3
Oldham Athletic came back from the dead to snatch an unlikely draw at home to Colchester United in a clash of two Sky Bet League Two play-off teams.
Latics, 3-1 behind after 85 minutes, looked to be staring down the barrel of a third home league defeat….and it is still only September.
But they displayed a never-say-die spirit to draw level with late goals from Sam Surridge and captain Peter Clarke.
There is no stopping Surridge, who is on a season’s long loan from AFC Bournemouth, as he has netted seven goals in seven games for Latics.
And it was pleasing for manager Frank Bunn who likened the game to some of the high-scoring matches when he played for the club in the 1980s.
Latics were unchanged from the side that won 3-0 at Grimsby Town which was hardly a surprise.
Colchester created the first opening as Brennan Dickenson had an effort which deflected into the arms of Daniel Iversen.
There was a controversial refereeing decision after 10 minutes as Callum Lang found himself running through on goal, only to be wiped out by U’s goalkeeper Dillon Barnes.
However, Anthony Backhouse only deemed it a yellow card offence, despite Lang having an open net ahead of him.
After that escape, the visitors then took the lead from a corner as Luke Norris, lurking at the back post, had the simple tap-in.
Latics almost responded in immediate fashion as Surridge found Chris O’Grady, but Barnes was able to get down low to his right and stop the shot.
Latics dominated possession, but failed to make a breakthrough. Surridge had a fantastic opportunity to take the teams in level at half time.
A long diagonal was nodded down into Surridge’s path by Lang, but loanee sliced his volley wide under pressure from the Colchester defence.
The second half came to life as Latics looked for the equaliser with substitute Gevaro Nepomuceno firing a shot over the bar.
However, Colchester doubled their lead as Latics failed to deal with a corner and Harry Pell volleyed in from the edge of the box.
Surridge halved the deficit as Dan Gardner spread a beautiful pass out to Andy Taylor who produced a delightful cross for Surridge to tap into an empty net.
Colchester restored their two-goal lead as Norris battled his way into the box before smashing a left footed effort past keeper Daniel Iversen.
It looked a lost cause for Latics until Gardner lofted a freekick on to the head of Surridge and the striker flicked it into the bottom left-hand corner to spark the comeback once again.
Captain Clarke then made it 3-3 heading home Gardner’s corner minutes in the 88th minute.
Oldham Athletic (4-4-2): Iversen; Hunt, Clarke, Edmundson, Taylor; Branger-Engone, Gardner, Missilou (Baxter 58), Lang (Nepomuceno 45); O’Grady (Miller 79), Surridge. Subs (unused): Baxter, Dummigan, de la Paz, Graham, Maouche.
Attendance: 4,017 (158 visitors).