Hands on

Well just 'walked' the dogs. Lost a fence panel. Not much snow and the sun is shining but you can't play football in this blizzard because it gets in you eyes. So I suspect that even if the game starts it will be abandoned.

If the wind don't blow, which it is and will, a nice covering of snow on the frost covers would do the trick. Unfortunately if we have a blizzard with subzero air temperatures the pitch could freeze quickly once the covers are removed. Hopefully the Met Office are over egging the forecast due to the Fish factor and all will be well. PS It just started snowing as forecast.

Happy days.........

I know it always looks like we will need more but 51 points has been enough for the last ten years. We need a point a game from here and I don’t doubt we will get more. Moimbe is slight but tougher than he looks. Difficult choice if Hunt is fit. I just want to see our class player so hope Doyle will start.

Didn't go. Strange team we have four points from top of the league Blackburn and four points from bottom of the league Bury and still only 19th.

Priceless

Refreshment here I come

5 minutes to wait

Given McEl the goal.

The second coming has arrived. Holloway assist magic Doyle finish. Fantastic

A win today would be priceless. I wonder who the couple coming back from injury are. Dare I hope for the second coming!

VAR or how to make entertainment out of football. I think it entertained those of us watching on the telly but was a complete mystery to everyone at the game. VAR is there to get the decisions right and it spectacularly failed. Why can't they adopt the rugby systems. Rochdale now have only one Tuesday off until the end of the season. Hard work but I guess the cup run will be considered a fair swap for going back where they belong.

Being cheerful having just attempted to release my car from the snow and ice, never seen so much ice on it, I suspect the winter break will continue through this weekend and could even make it to next weekend. The long term forecast has the Bury weekend not so cold but freezing nights and snow snow snow and never to be forgotten some freezing rain. They keep on telling me how cold it is but it doesn't seem that cold until you see what it can do to your car. If the wind picks up this lovely soft dry stuff will drift for fun.

It always looks like 50 might not be enough when you are at this end of the division but 50 has only gone down twice in the last ten years so yes it might not be enough but five wins and 51 points certainly would.

I've not been to even a quarter of the football grounds in the country but I have seen at least half on tv and they all have one thing in common - STANDS. These in every case must put part of the pitch in shade for most of the coldest months of the year yet Oldham was the only game called off. That is why I'm a little pissed off and surely this will have cost OAFC thousands of pounds. Having said that AL is not to blame and might think it worthwhile to find a solution for next season. Incidentally it rather looks like there will be any number of frozen pitches this weekend so Scunny now looks doubtful - it is going to be a lot colder over that side of the country. No doubt also Ice Station Zebra will have perma frost by the weekend and with frosts forecast next week it is a good thing our next home game is the Tuesday 17th as it might have thawed out by then.

PS Mossley also called off their game with 20 mins notice, well at least there was the beer festival at the Fleece. Funny thing was that the teams then went onto the frozen dangerous surface to train. Health and Safety is wonderful.

Its kind of unbelievable that the part of the cricket ground which is permanently in shadow at this time of the year in Uppermill is playable, inspection by me with my dogs, but that part of the pitch of a professional football club in Oldham in shade is not. What a surprise it must have been for all concerned!

Boiling water! As said this is not a new problem but probably despite all the effort I suspect as we wait for the second coming we might benefit in terms of result if not financially. Off to Mossley v Clithroe and the Fleece pub where there happens to be a beer festival.

What about a name other than North Stand. Great White Elephant springs to mind.

Might I suggest that he has started in the right way by getting us the strikers we needed. We would need to know the deal he has done with the two amigos in relation to the stadium and surrounds to suggest improvements there but we do need a new pitch. If memory serves me well it has not been relayed for some time, worked on and reseeded yes but relayed no. You can't compare a pitch that has to be covered with one that has undersoil heating as our problems only surfaced when the pitch was covered for frosts and with the work undertaken to remove snow. I would prefer grass with heating but then the options for 3G or whatever it is have been considered and rejected. The pitch at Kilmarnock didn't look too clever when they beat Celtic but no doubt it is better than what we have now.

Davies was off side on a number of occasions to start with second half but he adjusted and there was a run of three when he was clearly onside - two of those he would have been clear on goal and could have shown Holloway what to do. If you noticed he spoke to the referee about it after the first and third time.

How do you relay the whole pitch and get the turf to stick a week later whilst playing football on it? Will be interesting to watch particularly if a Spurs player gets injured when/if it cuts up.

We will see tonight. Seems perfect with super striker sub Holloway waiting to take over.

Its going to be cold and miserable and playing will hasten the demise of the pitch which is in free fall but a win tonight is essential as otherwise we will be back in 22nd when we next play and will have had a long time to think about losing.

"Pochettino" is playing mind games knowing the home advantage could see their precious premier league players lose the tie. He wants it moved to a bigger stadium which will suit them better. Absolutely no comment or evidence to suggest the pitch caused or could have caused any injuries when they beat Millwall.