There have been some ridiculous reactions to yesterday’s defeat on this forum and I’ll try to give my opinion. Firstly huge praise to Mellon for his approach to the game. I have been a critic of his tactics in the past but yesterday every change he made was positive and done to try to win the game. At 1-1 he was going for it and thumbs up to the man. Secondly there has been criticism of Hudson for not stopping either goal. Well the first goal by Hutchinson was a freak one-off that he’ll not repeat in the rest of his career. It was from 30 yards and hit the net (wind assisted) in less than one second. I calculate that as in excess of 70mph. I challenge anyone to stop that. The second was just one of those goals that again, he couldn’t have been expected to stop. Kavanagh has also incurred the wrath of some posters but bear in mind that he is returning from injury, is a goal poacher, and was provided with no poaching opportunities. I have faith in his goal scoring abilities. If any criticism can be made it would be of our two hard-working midfielders, Woods and Pett. Neither of them have got a shot in their arsenal, despite numerous chances coming to them on the edge of the area. In fact I don’t think Woods has had a serious shot a goal all season.
That said I think yesterday’s result can be chalked up to a one-off freak score line with Crewe walking off that field wondering how they managed to win. Confidence is the key to the remainder of Latics’ season and they should keep their heads held high for the Colchester game. Play like they did at Crewe and they will win. That doesn’t happen twice.