THE Magpies suffered somewhat of a second-half collapse as they were defeated by National League outfit Oldham Athletic at Victory Park on Tuesday night, writes Pete Tscherewik.
Chorley started well on the front-foot and were rewarded for their efforts with the opening goal, live-wire Jack Hazelhurst was quickest off the mark to be on hand and slam home a rebounded shot inside the six-yard box on 16 minutes.
Chorley vs Oldham | Image by David Airey
Oldham wouldn’t have to wait long to get back on terms though, Mike Fondop with a simple tap-in from Alex Reid’s initial cross to beat Matt Urwin in goal. Reid then latched onto Hallam Hope’s through ball and his finish did the rest to ensure the visitors went in at the break infront.
Andy Preece’s side came out after the restart with six changes made and weathered the Latics’ storm for the first 20-or so minutes of the second-half before Reid bagged his second of the night, another one from only a couple of yards out after Urwin initially saved the first shot that came in.
A few minutes later and the floodgates were opened, Devarn Green was next to get in on the act with a header at the back post (albeit while Chorley were a man-down due to injury) before Green then turned provider for Kurt Willoughby to get on the end of his cross to add a fifth goal for the visitors.
Chorley vs Oldham | Image by David Airey
Fondop made sure he had the last notable piece of action right before the whistle, making it 1-6 after striking the ball sweetly into the corner following Willoughby’s initial knock-down.
I thought we were excellent in the first-half, especially going forward – we caused them lots of problems, some really good individual performances and all of the forward players played their part and were really dangerous, we should have scored more, it could have been 5-4.” – Andy Preece
Chorley – Urwin, Henley (Scarborough, 45′), Wilson (Trialist B, 45′), Trialist A, Blakeman, Calveley (Spencer-McDermott, 45′), Nolan, (Trialist C, 45′), Hazelhurst (Tomlinson, 63′), Shenton (Johnson, 63′), Sampson (Britton, 45′), Ubaezuounu.
Oldham – Hudson, Sutton (Hogan, 66′), Hobson (Chapman, 73′), Raglan, Couto (Kitching, 66′), Hope (Green, 66′), Sheron (Lundstram, 66), Shelton, Tollitt (Ward, 66′), Reid (Willoughby, 73′), Fondop.
Attendance – 864
Next Up – We travel to Bradford Park Avenue this Saturday (21/7), for a 3pm kick-off.
Ticket details from the visitors will be released in due course.