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Port Vale 0 Oldham Atheltic 3

Gavin Browne
5/ 3/2008

HOW often have you heard in life the saying that appearances can be deceptive?

Those people who did not go to Staffordshire on Saturday would see that Athletic won by three goals, shrug their shoulders and think it must have been the metaphorical walk in the park.

Not so as John Sheridan’s team benefited from at least one dubious refereeing decision that saw those home fans who remained at the end labelling Bedfordshire official Graham Horwood as a ‘cheat’.

Throw in two attempts that hit the woodwork as well as a pair of excellent saves from Mark Crossley and you can see why a three-goal winning margin could at best be described as fortuitous.

The build-up to the game had not promised much with Vale seemingly resigned to relegation and Athletic having lost their last three matches away from Boundary Park.

While it was Latics who bossed the opening 20 minutes, there was little in the way of action save for Crossley missing Reuben Hazell’s backpass under pressure from Marc Richards, necessitating a hasty clearance from the recalled Kelvin Lomax.

That all changed when Athletic took the lead midway through the half as on-loan Jordan Robertson volleyed home David Livermore’s cross despite looking half-a-yard offside or onside, depending on where you were sat in the press box.

The home fans were in no doubt though as they were quick to let assistant referee Amy Rayner know for the rest of the afternoon.

They could have had something to celebrate though within two minutes, only for Crossley to acrobatically push Kyle Perry’s 25-yard effort away.

The former Chasetown striker proved a handful all afternoon and, should some of his rawer edges be smoothed out, Vale look to have found a quality target man.

A combination of a deflection and the crossbar denied Perry an equaliser just before the break as Latics failed to cope with a set piece, but that was merely the prelude to a second half where the home side dominated proceedings.

Marc Richards shot wide, Perry struck the post and Neal Eardley’s clearance behind was too close to the goal for comfort before Vale were undone by the cruellest of second goals.

Trying to deal with a goal kick, George Pilkington got in a tangle and inadvertently diverted the ball towards goal where Joe Anyon was forced into making a save.

Unbelievably, Mr Horwood adjudged that to have been a deliberate backpass, and once the inevitable melee had been dispersed, Eardley’s shot found the net with the help of a deflection.

Fired up by a sense of injustice, Vale were denied again when Crossley denied Chris Herd after spilling Paul Harsley’s free kick.

A copious amount of salt was rubbed into Vale’s wounds in stoppage time when Matty Wolfenden lobbed Anyon to wrap up one of the more unlikely three-goal victories.