Colin West salutes character of players after Oldham edge to win over Tranmere

Posted Wednesday, August 11, 2021 by PA

Oldham assistant head coach Colin West saluted his team’s character as they recovered from a two-goal deficit to eventually edge out Tranmere 4-3 on penalties in the Carabao Cup first round.

The game ended 2-2 after 90 minutes before Danny Rogers saved spot-kicks from Paul Glatzel and Peter Clarke in the shoot-out.

Standing in for Covid-hit boss Keith Curle, West said: “It’s always a great way to win, but I thought we’d snatched it late on when Davis (Keillor-Dunn) hit the post.

“Credit to all the lads, they’ve shown great character to get through the tie tonight. It’s just about trying to keep this momentum going now.

“We were the better team by far in the 90 minutes. We played the better football and got in some great areas.

“The lads were a bit sombre at half-time, but we clawed our way back into the game after going two down and it feels good to get through in the end.”

The visitors led at the break as Sam Foley produced a neat finish on his first start for the club.

Six minutes after the restart it was 2-0 when another first-time starter – Elliot Nevitt – smashed into the roof of the net.

Dylan Bahamboula halved Oldham’s deficit before Tom Davies’ headed own goal hauled the hosts level.

The spot-kick loss left visiting boss Micky Mellon disappointed and he may have lost goalscorer Nevitt for a while as he injured himself while celebrating his first senior goal in the 51st minute.

Mellon said: “It was a wonderful moment for Elliot because he has worked so hard to get to this level.

“It was a really good step forward for him to get his first goal tonight, but it looks like he’s maybe caught his leg on the advertising board and it could be serious.

“We don’t know yet, but he’s in a lot of pain. It’s disappointing that we couldn’t go on to nudge it in the end. It could have gone either way.”