Barnet 3 – 2 Latics: How did Oldham not win this game?

At no point before the final whistle did any of the travelling Latics fans believe their side would lose this game, yet they did, by failing to apply enough pressure when they had a man advantage, and by conceding a very, very streaky late goal.

BARNET 3

Glover 36, Tshimanga 45 (pen), 87

LATICS 2

Pett 11, Stevens 69

2,715

The sides were terrifically well matched. Barnet have pace and can-do up front in the shape of Idris Kanu and Kabongo Tshimanga. Latics are the same with Kane Drummond and Jack Stevens. The Bees have a very efficient central midfielder in Ryan Glover. Latics have the metronomic and meticulous Ryan Woods…and so on, all the way back to the goalkeepers Cieren Slicker and Mat Hudson, who both made excellent saves.

Latics went ahead on 11 minutes and deserved to do so after a very promising opening. From a throw-in from the Latics right, Joe Garner somehow shielded the ball at the near post from centre-half Phillip Chinedu (at least one and a half times the size of Garner) and laid it back to Tom Pett, whose left foot shot bent around two Barnet defenders, giving Slicker no time to react.

Pett’s afternoon did not go well from there. Barnet equalised from a free kick from their right. Danny Collinge scuffed his shot inside the six-yard box, Latics failed to clear – neither Donervon Daniels nor Manny Monthé committed – Hudson got a very week hand to it on the line, and Glover put it away from inches.

If you’re squeamish about football mishaps – the brain-fades that sometimes occur to footballers, and often to those who don’t deserve to have them – look away now. Pett, one of the more temperamentally balanced players in the game, was the unlucky man whose faculties deserted him.

When Barnet were given a contentious free kick 30 yards out, everyone waited for Anthony Hartigan to shoot. Pett, behind the wall and in the area, jumped. From behind the goal, it looked for a moment like the ball struck Pett’s arm because he was protecting

his face, which would have been fair enough, but the lack of protest from the players told another story. Pett had deliberately elbowed the ball away as it flew past him. Hudson had it covered, unlike the resulting penalty, which Tshimanga hit high and true to Hudson’s left while he dived low to his right.

It would have been incredible had Latics gone in level at half-time, so it was pretty much unbelievable that they went in behind. A clearly shaken Pett was replaced by Fondop on 60 minutes. Latics went again, and were soon playing 10 men after Nik Tavares was sent off for dropping Drummond when he was the last defender. Slicker had come off his line and would have been favourite to win the foot race even against Drummond, but the last man is the last man, and Tavares had to go, having made absolutely no attempt to play the ball, even if it was just past the halfway line in the centre circle.

Jack Stevens struggled to impose himself at times, as you would expect of a player returning from a long injury lay-off, but when he got on top he stayed there, harassing defenders with stepovers and crosses. His goal was extremely well taken. Latics worked the ball across the edge of the area from the right. Barnet defenders had all been sucked to that side, so Stevens ghosted in unmarked when Garner laid it off to him, hitting hit it low first time beyond Slicker.

Even Stevens, 10 v 11, game on.

But it wasn’t to be. The sending off concentrated the minds of the 10 remaining Barnet players, who were neat and tidy in possession, committed in defence and adept at running down the clock. The Latics substitutions deprived them of both ability and rhythm.

Glover was at the centre of things for Barnet, who enjoyed their best period of the game after going down to 10 men. He made space on the right for a cross and hit it first time. It beat Hudson, who had tried to tip it over for a corner, and cannoned back off the far post straight to Tshimanga, who couldn’t miss from a couple of yards with Hudson tangled up in the back of his net.

After the game, Micky Mellon was aghast that his side had somehow lost the game, as were the 500 or so Latics fans as they trudged out of The Hive into the grey suburban far north London afternoon.

Barnet: Slicker, Collinge, Senior, Jaiyesimi (Shelton 46), Kanu (Hawkins 83), Glover, Hartigan (Kizzi 65), Tshimanga, Chinedu (Smith 72), Tavares, Ofoborh.

Subs not used: Evans, Browne, Assombalonga.

Latics: Hudson, Caprice, Monthe, Daniels, Robson, Stevens (Taylor 89), Payne, Pett (Fondop 61), Woods, Drummond (Hawkes 82), Garner (Quigley 89).

Subs not used: Donaghy, Hannant, Simeu.