COLCHESTER UNITED 2, OLDHAM ATHLETIC 0
Suddenly the Sky Bet League Two play-off places are within striking distance for Oldham Athletic following their splendid victory at Colchester United.
Early goals from left-back Alex Iacovitti and striker Callum Lang in the opening 12 minutes made it three straight wins since Pete Wild returned as interim head coach.
When Wild succeeded Paul Scholes, Latics were 11 points adrift of the top seven. Now it is five and Latics have played one less match than some of the teams above them.
It is a remarkable turnabout in their fortunes and continuity has proved the key as Wild has played the same side for all three matches.
It was same again and Latics made the perfect start taking a fifth-minute lead from Gevaro Nepomuceno’s corner.
It found Lang at the back post and his knock-down fell to Peter Clarke whose shot found Iacovitti who slotted home from close range.
Shortly afterwards Latics found themselves 2-0 ahead when the U’s gifted the ball to the in-form Lang. A hard back-pass was not controlled by keeper Dillon Barnes. Instead of stopping a corner he gave the ball to the on-loan striker who had almost an open goal..
Lang nearly doubled his tally after 21 minutes but the U’s keeper pulled off a brilliant instinctive save to his left to redeem himself.
Minutes later and Christopher Missilou stung the hands of Barnes with a fierce shot after Colchester failed to clear three successive corners as Latics continued to dominate.
The first real chance for the hosts came on the half-hour when Kane Vincent-Young cut inside from the left, but he shot straight at keeper Daniel Iversen.
As the opening 45-minutes came to an end Colchester tried to increase the pressure and have a couple of penalty appeals waved away.
It was John McGreal’s side who started the second half stronger as they tried to reduce the deficit.
As Colchester raised the tempo, Latics’ defence was resolute, but on the hour Lang’s shot from outside of the box took a bobble and Barnes had to push it away to safety.
With not much action apart from the U’s trying to find their way through, it was substitute Frank Nouble who had a golden chance to get a goal back for the home side. He failed to direct the ball on target from a couple of yards.
As the game entered the final 10 minutes it was Iversen who was called into action again, superbly stopping a free-kick from Brennan Dickenson.
The pressure kept piling on Latics’ defence but block after block they kept Colchester at bay as Latics recorded another excellent victory.
Oldham Athletic (4-4-2):Iversen: Hamer, Edmundson, Clarke, Iacovitti; Branger-Engone (Afoloyan 65), Missilou (Sylla 76), Maouche, Nepomuceno; O’Grady, Lang. Subs (not used): Coke, de la Paz, Benteke, Hunt, Sefil.
Attendance: 3,975 (254 visitors).