OLDHAM ATHLETIC 1, BLACKBURN ROVERS 0
Super-sub Queensy Menig’s last-minute winner for Oldham Athletic made it four wins out of four for interim manager Richie Wellens.
And the victory at home to Blackburn Rovers, one of the favourites for promotion, further enhanced Wellens’ prospects of landing the job on a permanent basis.
Indeed, Wellens has become the only manager in the club’s history to win his first four matches in charge.
And after leaking goals throughout the season, this was a first clean sheet of the league campaign, another significant milestone.
Wellens kicked off with the same side that beat Portsmouth two weeks ago as Craig Davies recovered from a knee injury.
Latics started brightly as Peter Clarke and Eoin Doyle had half chances, but were unable to hit the target.
Rovers’ Marcus Antonsson had a great chance, but failed to convert from six yards, a glaring miss.
Latics almost took the lead after 12 minutes when Rob Hunt’s inch-perfect ball over the top found Doyle whose effort was saved by David Raya.
It remained an open game as Peter Whittingham’s effort was deflected wide while Doyle’s volley was saved by Raya.
Elliott Bennett struck wide from 25 yards minutes later, but will wonder how he didn’t give the visitors the lead just before the half hour mark when he rounded Johny Placide but, with the goal at his mercy, he shot into the side netting, an almighty let off.
Latics had a golden opportunity to take the lead after 35 minutes as they broke three on two. Doyle found Davies on the edge of the box and he forced Raya into a good save and Doyle’s follow up header was also saved by the goalkeeper.
It was a good first-half showing from Latics and they started the second half brightly.
From the restart, Latics worked the ball to Davies on the left and he cut inside and his shot was well saved.
Not long after, Byrne almost curled a beauty into the top corner from 25 yards but it just went wide of the post.
Latics almost found themselves behind, however, when Whittingham struck the crossbar from the edge of the penalty area.
Byrne went close, but his 25-yard drive flew wide then Latics thought they should have been awarded a penalty minutes later.
A loose ball in the box was pounced upon by Doyle and he collided with the goalkeeper but the referee waved away the protests.
Latics had to ride their luck going into the final 10 minutes of the game.
Cameron Dummigan had to clear in front of his goal, whilst a minute later, Rob Hunt headed off the line as Blackburn went close to taking the lead.
Menig, who had come on with 22 minutes left, showed his quality as he raced past three defenders but fired over the crossbar from 18 yards.
In the final seconds of the game, Menig sealed a superb victory as he bent a shotinto the bottom corner to send SportsDirect.com Park in raptures.
Oldham Athletic (4-1-3-2): Placide; Dummigan, Clarke, Bryan, Hunt; Fane; Gardner (Omrani 87), Byrne, Nepomuceno (Menig 67), Davies, Doyle (Gerrard 90+3). Subs not used: Ruddy, Wilson, Flynn, Obadeyi.
Goal: Menig (90) for Latics.
Attendance: 7,784 (3,350 visitors)