FOREST GREEN ROVERS 4, OLDHAM ATHLETIC 3
Oldham Athletic’s defeat at Forest Green Rovers mirrored so many matches in the current campaign.
Free scoring and exciting, Latics are a joy attacking but remain brittle at the back.
They have scored 44 goals which is the joint second highest return but at the opposite end they reached an unwanted milestone in Gloucestershire conceding their 50th goal at the New Lawn.
What was disappointing for head coach Harry Kewell was to score three goals away to the promotion chasers but still leave empty handed having contributed so much to a rousing spectacle.
Conor McAleny netted a brilliant double to add to a first-half strike from Bobby Grant, but despite twice drawing level, Kewell’s side were unable to prevent Rovers from emerging victors.
Latics were also twice denied by the woodwork, including a header from captain Carl Piergianni which crashed against the post in added time, leaving the visitors with an over-riding sense of frustration.
Having fought back from conceding two early goals, Latics would have been worthy of a point from this rearranged fixture after the abandonment of the original game last month through fog.
This was Latics’ first competitive fixture for 17 days after two recent postponements against Scunthorpe and Exeter.
Kewell made three changes from the side that beat Salford last time out, Piergianni, Davis Keillor-Dunn and Adrian Badan returning to the side while Harry Clarke, Cameron-Borthwick-Jackson and Brice Ntambwe lost out. Harry Vaughan, a first-year academy scholar, took his place on the bench.
Rovers, who began the game in second place, were quick into their stride, Baily Cargill finding space inside the area after 12 minutes to score with an angled finish.
And after chances for Odin Bailey and Aaron Collins, Cargill doubled his tally, heading in from close range after Latics failed to deal with a high ball into the area. These were only his second and third goals of the season in the defender’s 23 appearances and only 23 minutes apart.
Having started to show signs of a recovery as Alfie McCalmont and Grant both went close, Latics halved the deficit five minutes before the interval. Grant cut in from the right before his low shot was deflected in past goalkeeper Lewis Thomas.
Clearly buoyed by the goal, the visitors began the second period with renewed intent as McAleny equalised in the 54th minute. An initial effort from German midfielder Marcel Hilssner was parried by Thomas, McAleny, slotted in the rebound.
Yet Latics were level for only six minutes, substitute Jamille Matt restoring the home side’s lead by heading in a cross from Bailey.
In a breathless seven minutes, the visitors again hit back straight through McAleny who fired home a fine low drive into the bottom left-hand corner.
But Latics were undone as Josh Davison headed home, remarkably it was a fourth goal in 13 minutes.
Latics pressed to find another equaliser, Thomas punching clear a drive from McAleny before Keillor-Dunn was inches away with a curling effort, his 16th goal of the season.
Substitute Marcus Barnes was unable to connect with a teasing cross from Nicky Adams and when Piergianni was denied by the woodwork in added time, Latics’ hopes of rescuing anything from the game disappeared.
Oldham Athletic: Lawlor, Jombati, Piergianni, Keillor-Dunn, Grant (Barnes 78), McAleny, Badan, Hilssner, Adams, Bahamboula (Tasdemir 62), McCalmont. Subs (not used): Bilboe, Jameson, Ntambwe, Diarra, Vaughan.
Goals: Bailly Cargill, 12, 35, Jamille Mat, 60, Josh Davison, 67, for Rovers. Grant, 40, McAleny, 54, 63, for Oldham.