Hemel latic

I'll be there. Dorking is the absolute nadir in terms of viewing to the extent I'll think twice about going next season is we're both in the same division.

Last night's attendance was a few down on the previous Tuesday night game at home to Barnet but 400 up on the Tuesday night game before that, Maidenhead in October, so decent for a Tuesday night. It's a fair point though, if we continually serve up dross the buzz will dissipate and some fans will drift away. I don't see that happening this season, if we stay in and around the play offs there's excitement there in and of itself. And let's remain hopeful that the football will improve with Mellon's tenure. It would be nice to sign a real crowd pleaser, someone to get the fans out of their seat. We are really missing much in the way of an X factor, particularly with Norwood out of the equation.

That's good and somewhat reassuring analysis. I guess what undermines that for some of us is just how poor the performances have been this calendar year. It's hard to see how we will continue to get such results when we're playing badly most of the time. Perhaps I was dazzled by the games against Barnet and Woking (A) but the games against Hartlepool weren't too bad either although we may have caught them at a good time. In short, although results have held up form seems to have deteriorated. Another way of looking at it would be imagine how good the results will be if/when performances pick up. In Mellon we trust.

Agree with most of what you say bar the criticism of Fondop, and you're not alone in not rating him. Last night he scored the first and won the free quick for the second. He provides a physical challenge for whoever as the difficult job of marking him, he is the one player on our books who can hold the ball up, When he holds the ball up he nearly always plays the ball to a team mate facing the opposition goal. Very good in the air, he wins countless defensive headers as well as those in the other half. Is it perhaps time for Oldham fans to stop asking what has Mike Fondop ever done for Oldham Athletic?

Yes

I thought the first half last night was as bad as anything we served up under Unsworth. Mellon seemed to be saying in the presser that he's done with 442 and that it's 532 with this squad of players, we shall see. To me it felt a bit like his team selection for the game against Hendon, he sent out a load of square pegs in round holes to prove 442 wouldn't work. Which is odd given our best performances under Mellon were 442 but that was with Gardner and Green on the flanks. That's one good performance in six for the calendar year. It's looking to me more like scraping into the play offs than storming them, it's difficult to see where the long unbeaten run is coming form after recent performances. Perhaps all the comings and goings have unsettled the squad and it's going to take time to settle down. I still can't believe how hard it is to find a competent RB/RWB for this level. Hammond ran around a lot, which isn't necessarily a bad thing as we have lacked players with a good engine, but it remains to be seen whether he's an upgrade on Sheron, too early to tell. It's disappointing to travel to Maidenhead on Saturday expecting no better than when we went there last season (1-1) in the early days of Unsworth's inglorious reign but it looks like we'll be an outfit that plays tough to beat and relies on finishing the odd chance created for the foreseeable future.

I'd be surprised if Atherton started ahead of Walker, Green and Hope. Would have thought the bench is a good place to start a young player, we can bring him on against a tiring Wood when we're 3-0 up.

Interesting...

I'm loathe to read too much into it but, I can't help myself! Reference in the article on the official that a couple of players have niggles and might be missing tonight. Might we see Atherton and Doro feature in the first team squad over the next three weeks given we're playing six games (weather permitting)?

It's almost like a 16 match mini season from here on in. Build on this platform, look to improve, play well and win over the course of the next two months and get as high up as we possibly can in the league table to bag the best possible spot in the play offs. Really hope we can go on a good run after the disappointing start to the calendar year and go into the play offs in good form as a feared opponent for all the rest. I don't think we've beaten Boreham Wood since we dropped into the National League, they're pretty much everything we find to hard to beat in this league, tonight would be the prefect time to find the winning formula and put this lot to bed. Good to be welcoming back Hogan tonight, think we missed his leadership during his suspension.

I've just bought the last two tickets in the Main Stand. Me and my daughter decided over the weekend that if Frank can row the Atlantic the least we can do is drive up the M1 to welcome him home. A remarkable man, when you look around the wacky world of football ownership we have been truly blessed.

Jon Worthington is caretaker manager at Huddersfield.

An obvious statement, but only good teams play consistently well. Despite being in the upper reaches of the league we are not yet a good team because for every decent performance there is at least one bobbins effort to follow. It's frustrating because at certain times it's looked as though the sunshine has been about to burst through the clouds: the successive away wins against Woking and Barnet, the all too brief Stones era. But for every sunny spell there is a Fylde, or the turgid displays of late. There is still every reason to believe in Mellon, have you seen the 5 (FIVE) promotions on his CV? The rebuilding job isn't complete, the new players are bedding in, a fully fit Conlon has the potential to be some player at this level, every other team bar Chesterfield is just as inconsistent. It's hard not to get down after a display like Ebbsfleet but there's still plenty of reason to have confidence in the gaffer and the boys to get us into those play off places.

We've played 532 in the last 8 league games. We played 442 in the two preceding games that saw both good performances and victories over Woking and Barnet.

I think the oppo recognise he's one of our biggest attacking threats so they attempt to nullify him but agree, the lack of a left winger/midfielder for him to work with him does reduce his effectiveness.

I think there's a lot in that. Our current formation demands wing backs that are really fit and strong both defensively and in attack. I guess when you look at it that way it is a difficult position to play - you need to be a good 1:1 defender while at the same time adept at passing, dribbling and crossing.

The RB position is an enduring mystery to me. Sachdev clearly has promise but it's been a problem position for two years now, might be 5/6 years since we had anyone really decent in the position. Perhaps it's harder to play than it looks. I often think when I'm watching the PL that even really highly regarded full backs often look the weakest player on their team, perhaps it is harder than it looks.

Hear hear. It's a great opportunity for the people of Oldham to get together and celebrate the homecoming of the remarkable man that saved our football club and will have done something for the second time that very few of us could ever consider. I think it's quite a smart way of encouraging people to donate what they might have paid for a ticket to the charity that is clearly very dear to the Rothwell family's heart, many other people too. And given the message from Luke Rothwell that it's been much tougher this time, both in terms of the voyage and the fundraising, it's a way for Oldham supporters to get behind Frank and show him our support. For me it's a time to park the gripes and look forward to celebrating Frank's homecoming and hopefully enjoy a full house at BP for the first time in many a year.

The Boreham Wood game looks pretty significant now. After signs that we'd turned the corner we've put in four pretty dismal performances out of five in the calendar year. How will we cope without Norwood for anything up to 8 weeks? After a sparkling league debut we haven't seen much of Tom Conlon in the last two games, we have to get him on the ball more. Elsewhere we really are crying out for a bit of pace and power (Josh Stones...) but at the very least players need to be be competing and winning their individual battles. At least we welcome back Liam Hogan next time out, on the face of it he's been sorely missed in the last two games.

Really good post. I posted a few weeks ago about Nuttall having talent (Notts County at home on NYD, was a very good performance) but he's running out of time to prove it. Best result for him and us would be for him to make a success of this loan move, keep Cheltenham up and we get a fee for him at the end of the season as he completes a permanent move. The fact that Daryl Clarke sees him as a footballer reassures me that those of us that see something in him aren't going mad but I fear Mellon has got it right, there's not enough commitment, or whatever it is holding him back, to justify a starting role in a National League side.

Fizzled out after a bright start. Didn't have the gas to run for 90 minutes.

Have you seen Cheltenham's results since he took over? Night and day.

My word. I was starting to think that those of us that thought there was a player in there somewhere were deluding ourselves, but if Daryl Clarke rates him

If Nuttall is completely persona non grata the we have no big lump cover for Fondop should he get injured. Don't think Garner (or another target man) would necessarily mean the end for GN9.

From the wording of the Oldham Times article I expect clubs are making our players cheeky wage offers in the expectation we'll pick up the difference in a severance package. The closer we get to the NL transfer deadline the offers may become more realistic if teams are in the hunt for promotion, or seeking to avoid relegation.