Oldham Athletic (H) League One 25 Apr, 3pm

[Guest]

If only Smith had put our strongest team out...

[saddla]

currently 10th in the table. Is that not progress from last seasons 13th?

[Guest]

11th now. Posh winning.

[chestersaddler]

11th now. Posh winning.

Back to 10th now :D

[Guest]

Back to 11th.

[Guest]

FT 2-0

Att 4699

[cookyskid]

11th now. Posh winning.

SMITHOUT :wink:

Back to 10th now :D

SMITHIN :)

[chestersaddler]

11th now. Posh winning.

SMITHOUT :wink:

Back to 10th now :D

SMITHIN :)

Oy, behave :D

[Holbeach Saddler]

'pool survive. That wasn't on the cards a few weeks ago
Saddlers win 3 on the trot at home. Nose bleed time.

[Guest]

11th now. Posh winning.

SMITHOUT :wink:

Back to 10th now :D

SMITHIN :)

You forgot the next

Back to 11th

[Guest]

Roller-coaster for Posh. They were 9th/13th all afternoon. We were 10th/11th.

[SWS1]

Good to see another clean sheet, this time with McGillivray between the sticks. Good finish. :D
Beat the champs next week?? Revenge for Wembley?? :mrgreen:
Looks like another former player will be in the Prem next season: Deeney goes up with Watford, having resisted the temptation to move on in the last transfer window. Good luck to him and Watford (who used to be our rivals in various divisions in the past, until Elton John gave 'em the financial shot in the arm to take 'em to the next level).
Any benefactors out there fancy doing the same for Walsall? :mrgreen:

[WFC_Rob]

Nice to end a season hampered by pretty ropey home form with a home win. Oldham didn't look like they wanted to be there in the first half and we deserved to be winning at half time - although I think we were a little fortunate to get that penalty. Karma for Tuesday?

The second half was a complete formality. They were never going to score and we seemed to take one too many touches every time we got near the goal, but still played well overall.

For me, there's not a whole lot wrong with that squad looking ahead to next season. Yes, we probably need three or four quality additions, but Smith knows that as much as any of us so let's leave him to it. Morris has been a revelation since he's come back, and a fully-fit Sam Mantom come August will be like having a new signing.

O'Donnell's farewell looked fairly final to me, but I'll still keep my fingers crossed that he sticks around. After a nervy start, Macgillivray looked pretty comfortable (albeit rarely tested) so we've certainly been in a worse state of affairs regarding goalies in the past.

[EvenFlow]

If MacGillivray's shot-stopping(none to deal with today) is at the same standard as his kicking and marshalling his penalty area, he'll do for me :D .

Won at a canter today, Oldham were very poor; a shadow of the side we played at Boundary Park. That said, a couple of crucial defensive blocks (and a trying-to-be-cute finish) were all that kept Hiwula from adding to the tally. Front three looked great, & Benning looked the marauding wing-back of two years ago in the first half.

[scott_powell]

A very comfortable victory against a very poor side.

Hiwula and Mantom should have added to the 2 goal lead but it wasn't to be.

Benning was my MOTM. He was brilliant today, especially in the first half. I thought everyone played a solid 7/10 with the exceptions of Benning, Bradshaw and Hiwula who i'd all give a 9/10.

For me it was a very soft penalty. The ref was poor for both teams.

A great end to the season! Lets carry this form over into the next. The SMITHOUT crew have been very quiet recently.

SMITH IN

[Soton Saddler]

A very comfortable victory against a very poor side.

Hiwula and Mantom should have added to the 2 goal lead but it wasn't to be.

Benning was my MOTM. He was brilliant today, especially in the first half. I thought everyone played a solid 7/10 with the exceptions of Benning, Bradshaw and Hiwula who i'd all give a 9/10.

For me it was a very soft penalty. The ref was poor for both teams.

A great end to the season! Lets carry this form over into the next. The SMITHOUT crew have been very quiet recently.

SMITH IN

Too right they've been quiet. Season ticket sales are up, more points than last season, million times better than when he took over, top notch scorer in Bradshaw, great recruitment policy apparent in all the teams doing well, 1st Wembley trip EVER! The Smithout crew are mad!!

Good result Deano. Another good season! UTS!

[Walsallone]

Its a funny game! We have had a number of "stonewall " penalties not given this season but today we got one which was doubtful to say the least. I was pleased the Manager tried one or two different things today-thats what people on here have been asking for so I find the criticism above ridiculous.
As for the match a routine win over a very poor team. A good end to the season though so lets look forward to a good start next year.Just a couple of good additions will see us be challenging at the top end!

[JonnyOwen]

Remember when we played 3 in the middle at home last season and were dreadful?

Today we did the same, but the players in there are better, and Deano pushed the wingers on and staggered the 3 to provide balance both offensively and defensively. Shows how much he is learning as a manger as well.

Seemed like a goodbye from O'D, shame to see him go but I wish him all the best, absolute hero. I imagine he's joining Butler at Donny. MacGillivray looked assured, didn't have much to save though but still did very well. Entire team played well.

Special mention to Mal Benning who's last few appearances have convinced me that he deserves another chance, still has the potential to be a solid League 1 player.

[Wragbyred]

Attendance of 4699. Admittedly last home game of season, but still fairly good, did Oldham bring many?

[Sadders]

Good, comfortable win. Oldham were a shadow of the side we lost to at BP. Slow, ponderous, no leaders, pedestrian.

Lovely counter attack goal for the first, brillant from Morris and especially Hiwula (my MOTM). We could have been more than 2 up at half time, but missed a couple of decent chances. Not sure about the penalty to be honest, very soft, but we deserved the 2 goal cushion. Second half was more of a cruise, Oldham had more of the ball and we seemed to lose a bit of steam after Chambers went off, Flanagan just looks very innocous to me. Mantom and Hiwula should have made it 3 or 4. Hiwula was excellent, very raw, sometimes choosing to be greedy over a simple pass, but the potential inside that lad is huge. Don't forget, that before he came to us, he was rated poorly by Yeovil fans. Can't argue with Smith's ability to turn a poor/low confidence forward player into a goal scoring threat.

Hiwula was my MOTM, closely followed by Bradshaw, who was absolutely tireless and O'Connor who had a very comfortable afternoon bar one slip, that he then retrieved. Benning played well, got forward down the left. Nobody had a bad game, but I thought Purkiss had a clumsy afternoon. MacGillivray was decent, though, you can't really determine his quality on that game as he had literally, absolutely nothing to do. He did claim a few good crosses though - take note ROD.

O'Donnell will be off. It's a shame. Am I overally bothered? Nope. Butler leaving was a far bigger issue, same with Grigg, Paterson, Deeney etc. Smith may have stumbled onto something good here. Definetely deserves to be here next season in my mind, more points, wembley appearance, higher ST sales, players like Hiwula/Bradshaw/Morris thriving..11 goals in 4 games.

SMITH IN....> :D

[SoccerHQ]

Great to see Smith keeping faith with the system used at Swindon.

It would've been so easy to bring Sawyers back after his midweek goal.

Have to say that must be the strongest bench Walsall have had in years and years, ROD, Sawyers, Taylor, Downing, Cook and Forde all on it, most of those will be here again next season.

I said after Wembley the target should be top 10 and 60 points which most probably thought was completely unrealistic.

Well a point at Bristol probably won't quite mean 10th but it should I'm sure guarantee top half so will represent a solid if unspectacular season and endless debates to continue.

[Darth Vader]

A very comfortable victory against a very poor side.

Hiwula and Mantom should have added to the 2 goal lead but it wasn't to be.

Benning was my MOTM. He was brilliant today, especially in the first half. I thought everyone played a solid 7/10 with the exceptions of Benning, Bradshaw and Hiwula who i'd all give a 9/10.

For me it was a very soft penalty. The ref was poor for both teams.

A great end to the season! Lets carry this form over into the next. The SMITHOUT crew have been very quiet recently.

SMITH IN

Course they have, we've really picked up, shame it's so late on really! Not many can deny that there was a point where 'smith out' wasn't frowned upon, cos we were proper barclays and looked like relegation fodder.

I admit I was happy to see him go at one point as well, but delighted we've improved and hope next season is more of the same. Definitely got the makings of a good side, hopefully Bradshaw stays (and is fit) cos he's absolutely unreal.

[philthesaddler]

Remember it's a lot easier to play well against teams that have nothing to play for, when it doesn't really count.

Smith in or smith out, I'll be proved right, he'll never take the club anywhere, I feel sorry for those who believe otherwise because they simply can't see what's in front of them.

Vote smith if you want 3400 crowds and constant mediocrity, vote smith out/time for a change if you would like to see a club make progress. Simple as that.

[Andy_Petterson]

Remember it's a lot easier to play well against teams that have nothing to play for, when it doesn't really count.

Smith in or smith out, I'll be proved right, he'll never take the club anywhere, I feel sorry for those who believe otherwise because they simply can't see what's in front of them.

Vote smith if you want 3400 crowds and constant mediocrity, vote smith out/time for a change if you would like to see a club make progress. Simple as that.

Wasn't true for Oldham was it?

[Andy_Petterson]

A very comfortable victory against a very poor side.

Hiwula and Mantom should have added to the 2 goal lead but it wasn't to be.

Benning was my MOTM. He was brilliant today, especially in the first half. I thought everyone played a solid 7/10 with the exceptions of Benning, Bradshaw and Hiwula who i'd all give a 9/10.

For me it was a very soft penalty. The ref was poor for both teams.

A great end to the season! Lets carry this form over into the next. The SMITHOUT crew have been very quiet recently.

SMITH IN

Course they have, we've really picked up, shame it's so late on really! Not many can deny that there was a point where 'smith out' wasn't frowned upon, cos we were proper barclays and looked like relegation fodder.

I admit I was happy to see him go at one point as well, but delighted we've improved and hope next season is more of the same. Definitely got the makings of a good side, hopefully Bradshaw stays (and is fit) cos he's absolutely unreal.

We never looked like relegation fodder

[scott_powell]

Remember it's a lot easier to play well against teams that have nothing to play for, when it doesn't really count.

Smith in or smith out, I'll be proved right, he'll never take the club anywhere, I feel sorry for those who believe otherwise because they simply can't see what's in front of them.

Vote smith if you want 3400 crowds and constant mediocrity, vote smith out/time for a change if you would like to see a club make progress. Simple as that.

Yawn,

How about you post an opinion on the game and give them team/management some credit in what was a very comfortable victory?

[cumbria-saddler]

Thought we were great today, for most of the game. First half we were at our best, our first goal was a textbook counter attack. From them having a corner to us scoring must have been about 30 seconds. Hiwula was excellent first half, as was Benning.

I like this new formation. When we've not got the ball, we have a 5 man midfield, with 3 in the middle. And when they're passing the ball out from the back, we had 3 chasing them down (striker and both wingers). When we have the ball, we have 3 cm's, allowing at least one of them to get forward further than the other two, wingers who are either out side, or coming in, and today out full backs got forward well to support them, particularly Benning.

If Smith adopts this approach a lot next season, at home and against the less strong sides, I can see it being fairly successful. As long as he doesn't revert to this being his one and only tactic, and can adapt to others if and when necessary.

Few points..

MacGillivray - thought he was fairly decent, although wasn't really tested. Didn't have any saves to make as far as I can remember. Caught a few crosses, and his kicking looks decent too. Also, the defence didn't look any less confident with him in goal instead of O'Donnell.
O'Connor - solid with Chambers, apart from a few dodgy touches. Think I've changed my mind on him, a few months ago I'd have released in an instant, but now I'd definitely consider keeping him.
Benning - good game. Got forward well, particularly first half. Still a little suspect defending. I'd maybe offer him 6 month next season to see if he's up to it.
Cain - definitely like us to sign him over the summer. Played well most games I've seen him in this season.
Hiwula - same as Cain, like to sign him for next season, but think Man City might want him at a higher level. Excellent first half.
Bradshaw - excellent today. Worked really hard and deserved his two goals.
Penalty - didn't think it was a penalty to be fair, I thought he took the ball and Benning just fell. Won't complain though.

Looking forward to next season already.

[cumbria-saddler]

Remember it's a lot easier to play well against teams that have nothing to play for, when it doesn't really count.

Smith in or smith out, I'll be proved right, he'll never take the club anywhere, I feel sorry for those who believe otherwise because they simply can't see what's in front of them.

Vote smith if you want 3400 crowds and constant mediocrity, vote smith out/time for a change if you would like to see a club make progress. Simple as that.

Oldham didn't play well against a team that have nothing to play for today did they?

We already have more points than last season, and if we finish top half, would you say we haven't progressed Phil?

[chestersaddler]

Remember it's a lot easier to play well against teams that have nothing to play for, when it doesn't really count.

Smith in or smith out, I'll be proved right, he'll never take the club anywhere, I feel sorry for those who believe otherwise because they simply can't see what's in front of them.

Vote smith if you want 3400 crowds and constant mediocrity, vote smith out/time for a change if you would like to see a club make progress. Simple as that.

Oldham didn't play well against a team that have nothing to play for today did they?

We already have more points than last season, and if we finish top half, would you say we haven't progressed Phil?

Phil was speculating that we might be 21st only 3 weeks ago. He will of course be right someday. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

[TheSwift]

Favourite bit of the game was MacGillivray's run out the box and diving header for a throw in. Told Chambers to leave it as he wanted a pop :lol:

Craig MacNeuer :D