Sports Editor Tony Bugby brings us the latest from Oldham Athletic.
IT LOOKS like being yet another nerve-jangling finish to their Sky Bet League One campaign for Latics as battling relegation is becoming an annual ritual.
The promise of November, when Latics were unbeaten during the six matches played that month, has since spectacularly unravelled.
December and January saw Latics muster a meagre three wins from 15 games in all competitions to leave them in a worrying league position.
Though Latics look relatively safe in 16th place, they are only four points clear of the relegation places with almost two thirds of the season completed.
Latics are averaging marginally over one point per game which, if replicated over the remainder of the campaign, will leave them perilously close to the drop. Indeed, over the last two months they are averaging less than one point each match which is relegation form.
February doesn’t get much easier as they have to play Swindon and Milton Keynes Dons who both have promotion aspirations, the latter home and away in the space of 10 days. They also tackle relegation threatened Bristol City and Gillingham who are only a couple of points better placed than Latics.
It will be a challenging month for Latics, though manager Lee Johnson has the confidence of club owner Simon Corney, so much so that last week he signed a contract extension to the summer of 2018.
The timing was a surprise in view of the fact that Latics are involved in a scrap against relegation, but underlines the fact that Mr Corney sees Johnson as the man who will hopefully bring back the good times.
Johnson, who has been in his first management job for less than one year, has certainly found it a rollercoaster, both on and off the field.
He has not been helped by the fact that Adam Rooney and Sidney Schmeltz, two of his marquee summer signings, failed to impress and have since moved on as has Cristian Montano, another key player, for disciplinary reasons.
Johnson recently replaced them by signing Gary Harkins, David Worrall and Adam Lockwood. Harkins, who is on loan from Scottish club St Mirren, has impressed and looked a player capable of helping hoist Latics to safety.
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