Sports Editor Tony Bugby brings us the latest from Oldham Athletic.
MARCH LOOKS likely to be a critical month for Oldham Athletic in their scrap for survival in Sky Bet League One.
Four of their six remaining league fixtures in the month are against teams challenging for promotion – it could be five as Crawley could also mount a challenge for a top-six spot if they pick up points from having played as many as six games less than some of their rivals.
The remaining match is a basement battle at fourth-bottom Crewe Alexandra on Saturday, March 15. And though Latics look in a relatively lower mid-table safe 15th place, they are only three points clear of the relegation spots.
Such is the congested nature of the league table that only one win separates Crawley, who are 13th, and Crewe who occupy the last relegation place.
So it looks like being another nerve-jangling finish to the season for Latics whose league form remains inconsistent.
Since the turn of the turn they have won four, drawn one and lost seven, accumulating 13 points from those 12 fixtures which, if replicated over the whole campaign, would leave them in danger of the drop.
As Lee Johnson this month celebrates his first anniversary as manager, it certainly has been a steep learning curve.
The lack of stability and continuity has been a major flaw as Johnson has used a mind-blowing 36 different players in the first team.
Since the transfer window reopened in January, there have been eight new arrivals – Gary Harkins, Adam Lockwood, James Wilson, Jon Stead, David Worrall, Terry Dunfield, John Paul Kissock and Rhys Turner.
And trying to integrate so many new players into the squad at the mid-point of the season has been an additional challenge and a far-from-ideal scenario.
Another worry for Latics has been the slide in attendances – where have all the fans gone? It was not long ago they queued for tickets for the FA Cup tie at Liverpool where they had a following of almost six thousand.
It is down to a 3,500 hardcore for Saturday games while the crowd for the recent midweek match against MK Dons was just over 2,700, further evidence of the apathy of supporters as the season looks like becoming another damp squib.
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