[Archived] Match Report: Oldham Athletic 0 - 2 Blackburn Rovers

[Kamy100]

Parsonblue's match report from yesterday's match. We are very lucky that we have someone such as PB providing us with these fantastic match reports:

Saturday 25th July 2015 – Pre-Season Friendly

Oldham Athletic 0 v 2 Blackburn Rovers

Oldham Athletic (0) 0

David Cornell; Connor Brown (Jack Tuohy 72), James Wilson (George Edmundson 73), Gavin Gunning, Joe Mills (Jack Truelove 46); Lee Croft (Rhys Turner 46), Mike Jones (George Green 46), Liam Kelly (Tim Dieng 46), Carl Winchester (Trialist 61); Daniel Philliskirk; Rhys Murphy (AlenPloj 46).

Sub not used: Joel Coleman (gk).

Manager:Darren Kelly

Blackburn Rovers (0) 2

Delfouneso 58 Conway 84

Jason Steele (Simon Eastwood 46); Ryan Nyambe (Adam Henley 46), Shane Duffy, Matt Kilgallon (Grant Hanley 46), Tommy Spurr; Craig Conway (Luke Wall 90), Lee Williamson, Willem Tomlinson (Lewis Mansell 74), Jason Lowe (Connor Mahoney 61), Marcus Olsson (Nathan Delfouneso 46); John O’Sullivan.

Manager:Gary Bowyer

Referee: Mr. M. Brown

Bookings: None

Attendance:1,651

If the previous night had provided excellent entertainment at Prenton Park, the first forty-five minutes at the SportsDirect.com Park (whatever happened to plain old Boundary Park?) proved a far more humdrum affair. That was, of course, once we got into the ground. A swarm of bees meant the gates remained firmly shut until less than half-an-hour before kick-off which, at one stage, looked likely to be delayed.

With injuries and illness beginning to kick in already it provided another opportunity for some of the younger players to stake a claim for a place in the senior squad. Ryan Nyambe was given another outing at right-back whilst 17-year-old Willem Tomlinson was handed a midfield role alongside Lee Williamson and Jason Lowe. Connor Mahoney, Luke Wall and Lewis Mansell were also on the bench alongside trialist Nathan Delfouneso. With Jordan Rhodes and Rudy Gestede still unavailable and Chris Brown and new boy FodéKoita ruled out it was left to John O’Sullivan to shoulder the responsibility and play as the lone striker.

Oldham started the brighter of the two sides and the game was just seven minutes old when Tomlinson was forced to cut out a dangerous looking cross. Former Rover Gavin Gunning then got on the end of a corner and headed over. It was the home side who were making all of the running in the early stages and when Connor Brown won a challenge against Lee Williamson he ran forward before he fired a left-foot shot high over the bar from 25 yards out.

Whilst Tomlinson and Williamson strove manfully to get a grip in midfield, the Rovers offered little in terms of attack. John O’Sullivan is not a natural striker and struggled to make much headway against an uncompromising defence.

It was no surprise that the Rovers first chance of the game should come when a defender got on the end of Marcus Olsson’s cross but, sadly, Shane Duffy couldn’t keep the ball down and it flew over the bar.

The Rovers almost gifted their opponents a goal after 23 minutes when Matt Kilgallon under hit a back pass and Jason Steele was forced to tackle Carl Winchester as he charged through on goal.

The home side were definitely enjoying the better spells of possession and on the half hour mark Lee Croft looked set to give them the lead when he curled a shot which looked destined for the top corner of the net until a defender headed it over the crossbar.

Within a minute Oldham came again and a fierce shot from Joe Mills was well saved by Steele before Mike Jones wasted a free-kick and fired it well over the bar.

Has half-time approached the Rovers produced their best move of the half. Williamson found Nyambe racing down the wing with an inch perfect pass and he, in turn, slipped the ball to Conway who whipped a dangerous looking centre across the face of the goal.

In truth the first half had been a fairly uninspiring affair with the Rovers struggling to make any progress in terms of attack. O’Sullivan worked hard but is not a central striker and it showed. Tomlinson and Williamson were the pick of the Rovers team at this stage. Williamson was his usual steady performer holding the midfield together whilst Tomlinson was a real livewire who covered every blade of grass and looked very comfortable in possession and was creative in his use of the ball.

After the interval Gary Bowyer changed things around with the introduction of Simon Eastwood, Adam Henley, Grant Hanley and Nathan Delfouneso. This allowed O’Sullivan to switch to play wide midfield and immediately the team looked far better balanced. The Latics also made a number of changes at half-time but in their case the changes seemed to disrupt the flow of their play.

The introduction of Delfouneso gave the Rovers more impetus in attack and O’Sullivan began to have more impact on the game in his familiar midfield role.

On 58 minutes the Rovers took the lead when O’Sullivan was fouled on the right-wing. From the resultant free-kick, Conway whipped the ball over and Delfouneso evaded his marked and glanced a header past the startled David Cornell in the Oldham goal.

Having taken the lead the Rovers almost gifted a goal to the Latics when Duffy, inexplicably allowed the ball to go over his head and Eastwood was forced to rush from his goal and dive at the feet of the Oldham player who had nipped in behind Duffy.

More changes followed for both teams with the Rovers introducing Connor Mahoney for Jason Lowe.

There was another moment of panic in the goalmouth when Duffy hit an intended clearance against Hanley and was fortunate to see the ball bounce off the Scottish defender and into the hands of Eastwood.

Fortunately these were rare lapses in concentration as the Rovers controlled more and more of the second half. Craig Conway hit a free-kick over the bar on 63 minutes and a couple of minutes later another Conway free-kick was met by the head of Delfouneso but on this occasion the ball flew just wide of the post.

O’Sullivan enjoyed another good run down the right before he sent in a cross which was just too high for Delfouneso but saw Brown get in a tangle before he managed to clear the ball.

Another cross from the left caused panic in the home defence when the ball fell to the feet of Mahoney but the youngster leant back as he struck the ball and it flew high over the bar.

The home side had virtually disappeared as a threat but on 81 minutes they were awarded a free-kick some 25 yards from goal. George Green lifted the ball over the wall but the kick, although accurate, lacked any power and Eastwood had little difficulty in collecting the ball.

The Rovers clinched the win on 84 minutes when a long throw found Delfouneso in space and he played in Tommy Spurr who burst into the area before slipping the ball to Conway. The Scottish winger took it forward and then struck a powerful drive past Corrnell and into the top corner of the net.

The Rovers might well have had another but Lewis Mansell hesitated playing in Mahoney and when he did the winger’s shot was blocked.

Whilst this was a game that rarely hit the heights – there were too many niggly fouls on both sides for that – Gary Bowyer will have been given food for thought by the performances of Willem Tomlinson and Nathan Delfouneso. Tomlinson plays with a maturity way beyond his tender years whilst Defouneso, at 24, is the right age and has the right experience to be a valuable addition to the squad. Others who performed well were Lee Williamson, as steady as a rock in midfield; Craig Conway, who became more and more of a threat as the game wore on and John O’Sullivan who showed, after the interval, what an outstanding prospect he is in midfield.

[Guest]

Short article on the bee problem!