Oldham away, in the middle of winter. Is there anything more League One than that?
Going behind perhaps would’ve been, but thankfully Oldham were off target early on; the ball swinging, before cruising into the stands off the head of Carl Winchester.
There was nothing League One about the first goal on 12 minutes from a certain Andy Williams however; a wonderful cross from Craig Alcock found Williams free at the far side of the box and he let fly, finding the opposite top corner with the outside of his right boot. Conor Grant almost doubled the advantage minutes later, the ball scuttling back into play off the woodwork. A second did come though as young Harry Middleton left his man for dead, and found Williams free at the back post. Stretching to reach in an awkward almost scissor-kick fashion, time stood still as the ball went spinning in off the post; 2-0 to Rovers.
After the break, Rovers picked up where they left off. Grant carried the ball from deep before firing just wide. However, Oldham – backed by their ludicrous ‘ultras’ tucked in one corner – took control of the game, seemingly relentless in their pursuit of a goal. A ball into the box fell at the feet of Mark Yates whose effort was saved by Thorsten Stuckmann, though Rhys Murphy was on hand to tuck away the rebound and halve the deficit. From here on out, it was a case of hanging on. And Rovers did. Just about.
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