SUMMARY
Oldham Athletic have been relegated from the football league for the first time in their history after a miserable 2021/22 season. The Latics were a test for Crawley earlier in the season on their quest to stay up under John Sheridan, as the game ended 2-2 at The People’s Pension Stadium.
The Latics have had many protests and anguish from fans in recent weeks, as their home clash against Salford City last month was halted for hours after hundreds of fans raced onto the pitch to protest.
After impressive consecutive wins against Stevenage and Leyton Orient a month ago, Sheridan’s side have lost their last five league games, albeit against strong oppositions fighting for promotion. They lost out to Tranmere last weekend 2-0 and have only scored once in their last four.
MANAGER - JOHN SHERIDAN
57-year-old John Sheridan has had both an extensive playing career and managerial career, taking charge of eleven different clubs, and representing eight on the pitch from 1981 to 2004. Sheridan started his senior career at Leeds where he gained 230 appearances in a seven year spell at the club. Sheridan then spent seven years at Sheffield Wednesday where he played 199 times.
He then represented Birmingham City, Bolton Wanderers and Doncaster Rovers before spending six years at Oldham Athletic, playing 144 times before retiring from the game and jumping into management.
After caretaker roles at Oldham in his final playing years, Sheridan took the job full-time in 2006. The Latics boss has also managed Chesterfield, Plymouth Argyle, Newport County, Notts County, Fleetwood Town, Carlisle United, Waterford, Wigan Athletic and Swindon Town.
STAR MAN - DYLAN BAHAMBOULA
Oldham’s Congolese winger Dylan Bahamboula has been their star man over the past few seasons, as Reds saw his talents in our home defeat to the Latics last season, when Bahamboula scored and earned man of the match.
Bahamboula was born in France but represents Congo on an international basis, making 10 senior appearances for the African nation so far. He started his career at AS Monaco, where he spent four years in the academy before representing AS Monaco B on 46 occasions, scoring seven goals. He was loaned to Paris FC before a permanent move to Dijon.
Before his move to England in 2020, Bahamboula did some travelling, first off joining Romanian top flight side Astra Giurgiu and then Algerian side CS Constantine. In 2019, he moved to Bulgaria to play for Tsarsko Selo, where he was part of a huge win over CSKA Sofia.
Since joining Oldham two years ago, Dylan has shone at Boundary Park and has scored nine goals and 11 assists.
LAST TIME OUT
Crawley earned a point against the Latics in March when Ashley Nadesan’s quickfire double gave Yems’ men a second-half lead, but Christopher Missilou’s impressive strike levelled the scores.
Oldham’s lead only lasted a couple of minutes as Craig headed long towards Nichols who teed up Nadesan with a neat touch and blasted the ball first time on the edge of the box into the bottom-left corner bringing Crawley level.
Crawley didn’t stop there and used their momentum from the equaliser to keep pushing and only minutes after equalising, Nadesan got himself a brace and put Crawley in the lead as he made a pacey run which split the Oldham defence before slotting the ball cooly into the bottom-right corner putting the Red Devils 2-1 up. Missilou equalised ten minutes later with a cracking finish which caught Crawley off guard.
HOW THEY BET*
Oldham Athletic - 6/4
Draw - 12/5
Crawley Town - 8/5
Odds correct at time of writing from betting partners SkyBet. Please gamble responsibly.
