Oldham half-time team talk worked wonders – Richie Wellens

Posted Sunday, April 22, 2018 by PA

Manager Richie Wellens conceded he had to be astute with his half-time team talk as relegation-threatened Oldham battled back to earn a point from a 2-2 draw against AFC Wimbledon.

Oldham trailed at half-time due to Jonathan Meades’ 10th-minute opener but levelled shortly after the restart when Duckens Nazon found the net.

Joe Pigott then put the hosts back in front on 68 minutes but Nazon was on hand to equalise 16 minutes from time – and could even have won it late in the game but saw his effort deflected wide.

That leaves Oldham still just a point above the relegation zone with Wellens conceding he was scratching his head at how they did not come away with the victory in their fifth-straight draw.

“I think the overall feeling is that we deserved to win the game,” he said.

“I don’t know how many shots on target we’ve but as much as I was disappointed with our first-half performance, Wimbledon have only had two shots on goal in the first half.

“I was disappointed with the tempo we played, we went too long, too early and we performed at a level that was OK without really making anything happen.

“We went in one-nil behind and probably didn’t deserve to go in one-nil behind because we had the two best chances of the first half.

“At half-time it was an important team talk in terms of not laying into people but being constructive and coming up with certain things.

“We played a lot better in the second half and passed the ball really quickly and obviously had numerous opportunities in and around their box and chances to score.”

AFC Wimbledon meanwhile are also still looking over their shoulder with the point only leaving them three points clear of safety themselves.

“I’m disappointed that we’ve only come away with a point today if I’m honest,” said manager Neal Ardley.

“We got ourselves in front twice and we couldn’t hold on to a lead so we’ve only really got ourselves to blame.

“The players gave everything and I couldn’t have asked for anything more from them.

“Oldham had a right go at us in the second half but we showed character to come back from conceding so soon after half-time.

“We didn’t really create enough chances, but the few chances we did create we managed to score from which is a good thing.

“We are struggling with injuries at the moment and we had at least five players that had to miss training at some point during the week, but it’s not an excuse for not seeing the game out.

“Hopefully we can get some our injured lads back fit for the last three games.”