Oldham Athletic manager Dean Holden was frustrated as his side threw away a 2-0 half-time lead against promotion-chasing Sheffield United on Saturday.
Dominic Poleon capitalised on defensive frailties to slot home, before adding a second with a stunning 35-yard strike to put the Latics in control.
Jason Holt pulled one back for the visitors after the half-time, before Jamie Murphy bundled in a corner, as Holden bemoaned the circumstances of the equalizer.
“They haven’t really worked too hard for the goals. We didn’t stop the cross for the first one, similar to last week at Crawley, and it should never fall to the boy to score,” he said.
“The second one, everyone in the ground knows it’s a goal kick and the referee overrules the linesman which is a strange decision but once he’s made that then you have to focus on dealing with it, and we didn’t do that.
“I thought we were well on top in the first half and could possibly have been out of sight but once they got the first goal back the pressure mounts. But, overall, we come up against a top team and it was a very entertaining game.”
Despite his disappointment at Sheffield United grabbing a draw from the jaws of defeat, Holden was full of praise for Dominic Poleon whose second of the afternoon was voted goal of the afternoon on Sky Sports News.
“He was unplayable in the first half. His second goal – what a strike that was!” Holden exclaimed.
“It was right into the roof of the net and the goalkeeper didn’t see it before it hit the net so he was very good in the first half scoring two great goals.”
After a discouraging result on Saturday Holden was keen to turn his attentions to Tuesday night’s game with Coventry City as Oldham look to pick up their first win in four.
“The lads are saying it feels like a defeat but as a whole you have to look what you are up against,” he said.
“We are missing a few in our team and it was a tough ask to go and take the three points but once we were in that position, we thought we could have gone on and won the game but it wasn’t to be.
“We didn’t lose the game which is what became important towards the end of the game and now we move quickly forward to Coventry on Tuesday night.”
Main image courtesy of Official OAFC via YouTube, with thanks.
