Like we’ve never been away

There’s drama and then there’s DRAMA, Latics delivered the latter in spades on Saturday afternoon.

After nearly three weeks without football it was like we had never been away last week with a resounding win over Oldham followed by that win over Blackburn.

Mr Happy aka Tony Mowbray has Blackburn dreaming of a return to the Premier League after a decade away and in the first half you could see why. Latics contained Blackburn well but struggled to get a foothold in the game.

As Blackburn went ahead early in the first half I and I’m sure many others thought that would be this year’s adventures in the FA Cup coming to an end. But we should know better, this side has shown consistently this season their ability to get back in to games late on and to come from behind.

In the end Blackburn could have no complaints, even though Tony Mowbray and his upbeat demeanour would have you believe that we had no chance in the game and if not for their goalkeeper it would be Blackburn heading through.

There is some truth to that of course, Blackburn’s keeper could have done better with the first and was certainly at fault for the second but there was no stopping Thelo Aasgaard’s wonder goal for the winner and what a goal it was. That lad is going to go far in the game and let’s hope its with us. So there’s another match for us to contend with and a quick glance at the fixture list makes it look silly at the moment.

Most sides at the top of the table now have a five game head start on us, that’s five games to fit in somewhere – not taking in to consideration any further postponements for weather or further covid outbreaks.

It’s a ridiculous situation and one that’s been allowed to manifest itself by the EFL not being stronger. Stronger on Oxford and the ridiculous lunchtime postponement in November and not being stronger on both Accrington Stanley and Fleetwood who refused to play on the suggested date for re-arrangement last Tuesday.

There’s still no dates for these games and one has to wonder if Accrington and Fleetwood haven’t managed to gain numerous advantages in this approach. The advantage of avoiding one of the stronger sides in the division over Christmas and a second advantage by avoiding facing said team in early January. Instead waiting for what will be a much more congested fixture list come the end of the season.

Still there’s nothing we can do about it, the EFL seemingly are unable to enforce the rules they set so that leaves us knowing what we’re facing. We will need to play three matches a week for close to a hundred days, that’s without progressing any further in the cups and any more matches being called off.

It’s a huge task and one has to hope it won’t damage us going forward. More so than the start of the season this is definitely going to be a squad game now. Reinforcements are expected in the coming days, including Hull’s Josh Magennis.

Not necessarily a signing to set the pulses racing he’s an effective League One striker who had a big part in Hull’s march to the title last season. With more to come and the influence of those coming to form at the right time of the season (Gavin Massey, Thelo Aasgaard, Gwion Edwards) it promises to be an exciting end to the season.

As we return to League One action this weekend for the first time in nearly a month, lets hope our season isn’t derailed by outside forces. Knowing the dedication of Leam Richardson and this set of players I can’t imagine it being.

Sean Livesey

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