SHEFFIELD UNITED 1, OLDHAM ATHLETIC 0
Oldham Athletic owner Simon Corney must feel like he won the lottery only to see his ticket blow away in the wind.
Had Latics defeated Sheffield United in the second round of the Emirates FA Cup they would have landed a lucrative away tie at Manchester United.
That could well have provided a £1million windfall, a potential lifesaver for the cash strapped SportsDirect.com Park club.
Latics bowed out of the cup at Bramall Lane losing 1-0 to the 10-man Blades in a game settled by a Matty Done wonder goal.
They weren’t even able to exploit United Che Adams being sent off midway through the second half after he pushed Liam Kelly in the face.
Manager David Dunn vowed to shake up his side following the defeat at Crewe, and did just that recalling Carl Winchester, Timothee Dieng, Mike Jones and Jake Cassidy.
However, Michael Higdon couldn’t play against his parent club, Richie Wellens was cup tied and loanee Jay Fulton refused to play as he didn’t want to become cup tied.
Done was denied by Latics’ keeper David Cornell early in the game as the Blades made the brighter start.
However, Latics almost went ahead when Danny Philliskirk shot against an upright from a Mark Yeates free kick.
Yeates and Winchester also had openings in quick succession just before the half hour, but neither troubled keeper George Long.
Kelly also had a long-range effort but again Long was able to watch it fly wide.
Latics were hit by a sucker punch at the start of the second half when Done, the former Rochdale player, struck what turned out to be the match-winning goal.
A pass from Neil Collins released Done who produced some amazing footwork to wriggle past defenders before shooting low past keeper Cornell.
Latics responded positively and almost conjured an equaliser on the hour. Long punched clear a cross from Brian Wilson, but only as far as Mike Jones whose shot was well kept out by the keeper who was well out of his goal.
Adams was shown a red card as Latics sensed a way back into the game with 25 minutes still to play with an extra man.
Dunn’s response was to bring on Dominic Poloen to provide extra attacking options.
Poleon had a half chance before, with 15 minutes left, Cassidy had a great opening to make it 1-1. He met a Joseph Mills cross with a great downward header but the ball bounced over the crossbar.
The momentum was with Latics and 10-man United did their best to slow down play.
Dieng had a shot fumbled by Long who was also lucky not to concede a penalty after a clumsy challenge on Poleon.
With Latics committed to all-out attack, they were open on the counter and with four minutes left John Brayford almost made it 2-0 to kill the tie.
His shot from the edge of the box hit the bar and bounced down on to the goalline with the referee’s assistant ruling it had not crossed the line.
James Wilson had one last goal attempt for Latics, but it failed to trouble Long as they suffered what was to be a costly defeat.