By 'eck I enjoyed that.

Really not sure what was wrong in the first half. I'd probably agree with Jacko that we were just rubbish and Beckett and Porter exploited that very well. I think the bad play led to Schofield coming in off his wing a bit too much and so Clarke (T) and Worthington were trying to figure out how on earth to cover the midfield - and failed. Younger Clarke certainly didn't have his best game and I would expect our dabbling with him in midfield to stop. I thought that Tosh and Senior were our only two good players in the first half (with glimpses of Graham's ability) with Senior's first save being an absolutely amazing one, not merely very good. I was surprised that we weren't 4 or 5 down at half time as so many players were just not applying themselves.

The o.g. did indeed look to completely deflate Oldham and it was a great finish by Branston. That (and a good rollocking) set us up well for the second half and there was certainly only going to be one winner after our second. I also didn't think Oldham had many chances in the second half, which was down to our midfield finding a better balance with first Hudson and then Holdsworth - him in the centre and Mirfin at fullback looks a good option to me (I know a few people have called for Holdsworth in midfield before but I was surprised by how effective he was in the middle).

All in all a good game. Tosh, Senior and Graham my top men. Graham was excellent and I'd be inclined to leave him with Pav rather than go for the big man option as I think his playmaking was as good as his running - which just wouldn't be useful with Boothy as his partner. That said, the last 10 minutes by GTF were very full of effort and ability so Graham and him could probably link well.

Senior certainly can't lose his starting spot for the next game after that.

By Will Shaw from the HTFC mailing list.