Oldham Athletic came from 1-3 down to draw with Colchester United after Sam Surridge and Peter Clarke scored two goals in three minutes to gain a point for Latics.

Luke Norris scored a brace for the visitors as well as Harry Pell getting on the scoresheet, with Surridge also getting his second brace in as many games, making the game 1-2 at one point with his first of the afternoon.

Colchester created the first opening of the contest as Brennan Dickenson had an effort which deflected into the arms of Daniel Iversen.

There was a controversial decision with the game 10 minutes in as Callum Lang found himself running through on goal, only to be wiped out by U’s goalkeeper Dillon Barnes.

However, referee Anthony Backhouse only deemed it a yellow card offence, despite Lang having an open net to score had he not been taken out.

After that lifeline the visitors then took the lead from a corner as the ball found its way to Norris at the back post who had the simple task of tapping it into the net.

Latics almost responded in immediate fashion as Surridge found Chris O’Grady, but Barnes was able to get down low to his right and stop the shot.

Lang had a header at the back post which tamely rolled into arms of Barnes before Sammie Szmodics tested Iversen low to his left.

Oldham dominated possession, but it was to no avail, however Surridge had a fantastic opportunity to take the teams in level at half time.

A long diagonal was nodded down into Surridge’s path by Lang, but the Bournemouth loanee sliced his volley wide under pressure from the Colchester defence.

The second half came to life as Latics looked for the equaliser with substitute Gevaro Nepomuceno firing a shot over the bar.

However, Colchester doubled their lead as Latics failed to deal with a corner and Pell volleyed in from the edge of the box.

Surridge pulled one back for Oldham as Dan Gardner spread a beautiful pass out to Taylor, who produced a delightful cross for Surridge to tap into an empty net.

Colchester restored their two-goal lead as Norris battled his way into the Oldham box, before smashing a left footed effort past Iversen.

All hope seemed lost until Gardner lofted a freekick onto the head of Surridge and the striker flicked it into the bottom left-hand corner for his sixth league goal of the season to spark the comeback once again.

Captain Clarke then attacked Gardner’s corner minutes later to level the scores as neither side could find the winner.

Latics will be disappointed with the way they defended the Colchester goals, but they battled hard to ensure they took something from the game and make it two unbeaten.

Oldham remain sixth in the table as they look ahead to the trip to Swindon Town next Saturday.

Attendance: 4017 (158 Away)

Oldham Athletic

Iversen, Hunt, Clarke ©, Edmundson, Taylor, Branger-Engone, Gardner, Missilou (Baxter 58’), Lang (Nepomuceno 45’), O’Grady (Miller 79’), Surridge

Colchester United

Barnes, Jackson, Prosser ©, Kent, Pell, Norris (Mandron 79’), Szmodics, Dickenson (Eastman 86’), Comley, Vincent-Young, Nouble