Grimsby Town vs. Latics

Sky Bet League Two - Matchday 21

29 December 2020

Latics travel to Blundell Park tonight to take on Grimsby Town in their last outing of the calendar year (7pm KO).

A win for Oldham would be an incredible eighth victory on the road in all competitions for Harry Kewell’s side to set a new club record in the process.

Last time out, Latics fell to a 2-1 home defeat against Harrogate Town in a game that saw them reduced to 10 men following Bobby Grant being shown a straight red card.

Form Guide

Grimsby Town have struggled for form recently and have recorded just one win in eight league games. W1, D1, L6 in their last 10, conceding 17 along the way.

They come into the fixture on the back off back-to-back defeats against Bradford City and Morecambe.

This run leaves the Mariners 22^nd in the League Two table, just three points clear of the bottom two and they are seven points worse off than Latics.

The Mariners’ last six:

Morecambe 3-1 Grimsby Town
Grimsby Town 1-2 Bradford City
Grimsby Town 1-0 Scunthorpe United
Southend United 3-1 Grimsby Town
Grimsby Town 1-1 Mansfield
Grimsby Town 0-2 Newport County

Head-to-Head

Meetings: 72

Latics wins: 29
Grimsby wins: 30
Draws: 13

For - 106
Against - 116

Latics have not lost a competitive game against Grimsby since August 1997 and are unbeaten in seven against them.

The points were shared the last time the two clubs met.

Goals from Christopher Missilou and Filipe Morais had given Oldham a 2-0 lead at Boundary Park but they were unable to hang on to the lead. Late goals from Jordan Cook and Ludvig Ohman saw Grimsby rescue a point.

The last time they met at Blundell Park, Oldham got the better of proceedings. A quick-fire brace from Sam Surridge put the visitors two up in the second half and a 92^nd minute goal from Jose Baxter sealed the win.

Team News

In terms of selection, Head Coach Harry Kewell has some players unavailable. Danny Rowe is still close to a return to the side, with defenders Andrea Badan and Kyle Jameson back in training after making a good recovery from their hamstring injuries.

George Blackwood is now having some more time on the sidelines after a setback in his recovery.

Whilst, Bobby Grant begins his three-match suspension after his red card at the weekend. This means he will miss tonight's match as well as the game at Forest Green Rovers and the Emirates FA Cup fixture against AFC Bournemouth.

Interesting Info

The side have the most away league wins on the bounce, with four which is the second best record - winning five away on the bounce in 2008, with a 3-1 win at Leeds on New Year’s Day, and did it before in 1974, winning at Blackburn on March 2. So a win we once again equal Latics' best league away run.
The club also won four on the bounce in the league once in 1970.
Since the club lost 5-0 in the League Cup in August 1997, Latics are unbeaten against Grimsby (W5 D2, scored 20 conceded 5).
Overall at Grimsby it's P36 - W10, D7, L19 with 48 For and 73 Against, and since the 5-0, Oldham have won at Grimsby 2-0 (May 98), drew 3-3 (Boxing Day 2003), and won 3-0 in September 2018.
The hosts have beaten Oldham by more, but Latics have the biggest win (6-0, Feb 2004).

Previous 'On This Day' fixtures:

Last year Latics lost 1-4 at home to Salford, with the year before winning by the same scoreline (4-1) at Port Vale in Pete Wild’s first match in charge.

Overall on December 29th the club are P16, W6, D4, L6, scoring 20 and conceding 24 including getting hammered 5-2 at home by Manchester United in 1993.

Familiar Face

Former Latics midfielder Filipe Morais has recently joined the ranks at Blundell Park.

The 35-year-old has had two previous spells at Boundary Park. The first of which between 2010 and 2012 and the second came last season, joining on a season long loan from Crawley Town.

Across both stints as an Oldham player, Morais made 88 appearances for the club, scoring 10 goals in that time.

The Portuguese player had been without a club since the summer following release from Crawley, but he made his return to football earlier this month, joining Grimsby on a one and a half year deal.

He has been involved in each of his new club’s last five games and has been in the starting 11 for the last three of them.

In The Dugout

Ben Davies is the man in the dugout for the hosts.

Davies is current caretaker boss, taking over from the departing Ian Holloway.

This is the 39-year-old’s first role in senior management but he has had previous roles as first team coach and the boss of the Under 23 side.

He has also represented Grimsby Town during his playing career.

Stadium

Blundell Park

Grimsby Town - Blundell Park 1.jpg

Capacity: 9,052
Opened: 2^nd September 1899
Record attendance: 31,651 (v Wolves, 20^th February 1937)

Match Officials

Referee - Ollie Yates
Assistant Referee 1 - Matthew Smith
Assistant Referee 2 - Hristo Karaivanov
Fourth Official - Tom Bishop

Ollie Yates.jpg

The official tonight has taken charge of 16 games so far this season, handing out 54 bookings and a single red card.

This will be his first game this season involving Grimsby or Oldham, with his last Latics fixture coming in October 2019 in the 2-0 win at Boundary Park against Walsall.

Sky Bet Odds

Latics have been made favourites for the clash and are 5/4 to make it eight consecutive wins on the road.

The hosts are 7/4 whilst the draw is 13/5.

An Oldham win with both teams finding the back of the net is priced at 10/3.

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How To Follow The Game

Because the game is classed as behind-closed-doors, supporters can tune into a live match stream with commentary available for all subscribers on iFollow Latics, as Roy Butterworth and Michael Brown you through the action.

This match is available as a live stream for the fee of £10 by clicking here.

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In the current environment, there is a greater dependence on match streaming than ever before.

As a result iFollow generates one of the only revenue streams available to clubs through these financial challenges.

Piracy - and illegal streaming of matches - does not only carry the risk of potential criminal action, but also has a greater financial impact on clubs while supporters are unable to attend matches.

The EFL's campaign would like to not only convey the message that piracy is immoral and illegal, but that it is also financially damaging club's across the divisions.

For more information on the campaign and iFollow, click here.

Alternatively, supporters can also follow the game with live updates on the club's official Twitter account: @OfficialOAFC.

Match Reports

Grimsby Town 0-0 Latics

29 December 2020

Latics’ run of seven successive away wins came to an end with a goalless draw against Grimsby.

On a bitterly cold evening at Blundell Park, neither side could produce the quality needed to find the breakthrough in a game short of attacking incident.

With both sides struggling for chances, Latics’ best opportunity to claim the win came in stoppage time, Jordan Barnett finding himself in space on the left edge of the penalty area, only for goalkeeper Sam Russell to turn his angled shot around the near post.

It was the clearest chance of a lacklustre contest, but while Latics will probably reflect on an opportunity missed, they can at least take heart from a solid defensive showing, earning them a first clean sheet in Sky Bet League Two this season.

Harry Kewell made five changes from the Boxing Day game against Harrogate Town due to injury and suspension, handing Academy striker Junior Luamba his first EFL start alongside Zak Dearnley in attack.

17-year-old Luamba performed manfully, causing problems for the home defence during his 67 minutes on the pitch and creating a number of openings.

Latics started well, Dylan Bahamboula cutting the ball back to Dearnley, whose shot was blocked and the pair nearly combined again, only for Danny to make a vital interception to cut out a cute through-ball.

Luke Waterfall also got in the way of a shot from Luamba, who was denied again shortly before half-time. As an initial effort from the youngster was blocked, the rebound fell to Barnett, whose effort from the edge of the box was deflected over.

At the other end, Ian Lawlor’s one act was to make one save to deny Mattie Pollock from a Elliot Hewitt free-kick.

A great exchange at the start of the second half between Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and Dearnley resulted in the full-back fizzing the ball across goal but no Latics player could get a telling touch.

Yet any hope Latics had of building momentum straight after the re-start was punctured by a seven-minute stoppage due to an injury to an assistant referee.

Bahamboula always looked the most likely player on either side to make something happen, driving down the right before his teasing cross was cleared. The winger also sent in a free-kick from the same channel but Carl Piergianni’s glancing header went just wide.

Barnett and substitute Davis Keillor-Dunn had half-chances before Bahamboula curled a free-kick into the side-netting from 25 yards.

The best chance of the evening fell to Barnett right at the end but there was to be no fairytale ending to Latics’ pursuit of a new club record, instead having to settle for the first clean sheet in 20 and first draw in 17.

Grimsby Town: Russell, Hendrie, Waterfall, Pollock, Hewitt, Morais (Clifton 72), Preston, Rose, Edwards (Jackson Jnr 83), Green, Williams (Tilley 60).

Subs not used: Battersby, Starbuck, Gibson, Bennett.

Oldham Athletic: Lawlor, Clarke, Borthwick-Jackson, Piergianni, Garrity, Fage, Ntambwe, Barnett, Dearnley, Bahamboula, Luamba (Keillor-Dunn 67).

Subs not used: Bilboe, Jombati, Whelan, Diarra, McCalmont, Hamer.

Referee: Tom Nield (replaced Ollie Yates at short notice).