Behind the Goal Line 2025:A Ball Boy’s Mum’s View of Life with Oldham Athletic

  Home Sweet Home (With Caprice on the Bench!) Back at Boundary Park today, and the big news before kick-off was seeing Caprice on the bench! After all those weeks of waiting to see him back in action, there he was, warming up and looking ready to contribute. Sometimes it’s the small signs of progress that give you the most hope. We knew Gillingham would be tough - they don’t get to the top of the table by accident - but a home win was exactly what we needed to get some momentum going. What we got instead was a masterclass in how to play good football and have absolutely nothing to show for it. The Yellow Card Olympics (38 Seconds In!) You know it’s going to be one of those afternoons when Quigley gets booked after 38 seconds. THIRTY-EIGHT SECONDS! The ref must have been itching to get his cards out because by the end we had a proper collection - 8 yellows across the match (5 for us, 3 for them). The fastest thing about the first half wasn’t our attacks, it was the referee reaching...

Tuesday, 7pm Kickoff vs Manchester City U21s - Football League Trophy Sometimes football has a way of humbling you just when you think you’ve got it figured out. Tuesday night was one of those nights. Walking into the ground at 7pm, there was that familiar buzz of anticipation. The Football League Trophy - a competition that gives you a chance to see how you measure up against different opposition, including the bright young talents coming through at clubs like Manchester City. What we got was a masterclass in why these lads are considered the future of English football. The Reality: 1-5 The scoreline tells its own story, really. Manchester City’s U21s didn’t just beat us - they gave us a footballing lesson that lasted the better part of 90 minutes. Five goals that showcased pace, skill, and a ruthless finishing ability that left us chasing shadows for most of the evening. But even in defeat, there are always moments to take away from any match. Here are the “highlights” from what was,...

The Seaside Special (120 Miles of Pure Optimism) Nothing beats a proper away day by the seaside, and Fleetwood delivered on all fronts today! 120 miles in total - a nice manageable distance that didn’t require any service station stops, but we did make the most important stop of all: Sharks chippy for lunch! Chip butty for me (because sometimes you need the classics) and cod and cheese chips for the boy. Top notch food that set us up perfectly for the afternoon’s entertainment. When you’re combining football with proper seaside fish and chips, you know you’re onto a winner. Journey Stats: • Miles traveled: 120 (perfect away day distance!) • Service stations: 0 (but Sharks chippy: 1) • Quality of lunch: Outstanding • Optimism levels: High (seaside air does that to you) When Football Chants Need Parental Guidance Slow to get going again - seems to be becoming our trademark opening 20 minutes! We were all over the shop when Chad Evans got the ball in our half for the first...

 The Great Tuesday Night Dilemma 180 miles down to Bristol Rovers on a Tuesday evening? Sometimes even the most dedicated supporters have to admit defeat to weeknight logistics. So instead of our usual motorway marathon, Odie and I found ourselves planted on the sofa, remote in hand, ready for some midweek League Two action. But fair play to those magnificent Oldham fans who did make that trek down south - the noise coming through the TV was absolutely incredible! 👏🏻 You could hear them loud and clear, making themselves known in the West Country. Proper away day heroes, the lot of them. Journey Stats: • Miles traveled: 0 (felt weird, this) • Service stations: None (Odie didn’t know what to do with himself) • Travel sweets consumed: Zero (though we raided the biscuit tin during half-time) When Goalkeepers Become the Main Event Sixteen minutes in and Hudson’s pulling off the kind of save that makes you jump off your sofa and spill your tea. Point blank range, straight a...

Twelve-thirty kick-off on a Saturday - because apparently someone thought, “You know what football fans need? Less time to mentally prepare for potential disappointment.” But the sun was shining over Boundary Park, 6,995 souls had gathered (including 500+ brave away fans who made the journey up), and optimism was cautiously bubbling. Lovely to see Woods back after that knock last week that saw him hobble off at half-time. And get this - Caprice and Charsley warming up! Not match fit yet, but seeing them out there gives you that little flutter of hope that reinforcements are coming. Soon, hopefully. Very soon. When Your Team Forgets Football Starts at Kick-Off Right, so apparently someone forgot to tell our lads that the game actually starts when the referee blows his whistle, not when they fancy joining in. Four minutes - FOUR MINUTES - and we’re 1-0 down. I’m still settling into my seat thinking about whether I should’ve grabbed a pie first, and suddenly I’m wondering if this is going...

The Great Dilemma: Boundary Park vs The Etihad You know it’s been a proper football weekend when you’re torn between watching your beloved Latics at home and watching your lad play at the Etihad Stadium. And yes, you read that right - while I was stuck watching highlights on my phone, Odie was living his best life playing football at Manchester City’s ground! His team came third in their tournament, which honestly feels like a better result than most of our away days last season. The Art of Missing Sitters (A Masterclass) Right, so I managed to catch the match highlights, and blimey, what a game to miss! Twenty shots - TWENTY! - and we’re walking away with a 1-1 draw against Colchester United. That’s football for you, isn’t it? Sometimes you can pepper the goal like you’re in a shooting gallery and still come away wondering how you didn’t win. Eight shots on target from twenty attempts tells its own story, but the real highlight had to be witnessing one of football’s greatest mysteries...

Cup Nights & Cheese Pies: When Reality Bites at the Carabao Cup Well, this was a novelty - an away day that didn’t require a mortgage for petrol! Just 40 miles up the road, no service station pitstops, and crucially, no travel sweets needed. I almost didn’t know what to do with myself without having to plan which motorway services had the cleanest loos. **Journey Stats:** - Miles traveled: 40 (practically a local derby!) - Service stations: 0 (weird feeling, this) - Travel sweets consumed: None (Odie was genuinely confused) Carabao Cup: The Competition Nobody Admits They Care About (Until They’re Out) Game 2 of the season and it’s Carabao Cup preliminary round time - you know, that competition where everyone pretends they’re not bothered until they get knocked out and suddenly it’s a “missed opportunity.” A few changes from Saturday’s team, but lovely to see Woods still buzzing about in midfield like he owns the place. Donaghy got the nod between the sticks tonight, and with Daniel...

Operation Get To Milton Keynes (Or: How Many Roundabouts Does One Town Actually Need?) Right, so apparently MK Dons is a real place and not just something someone made up to wind up football purists. Who knew? After navigating approximately 47,000 roundabouts (I stopped counting after the third services), we finally arrived at Stadium MK, which sounds like it should be selling flat-pack furniture rather than hosting football matches. **The Journey Stats:** - Miles traveled: 350 (that’s roughly the distance from here to the moon, or at least it felt like it) - Service stations visited: 3 (because apparently the boy’s bladder operates on a 45-minute timer) - Roundabouts conquered: All of them. Every single one in Buckinghamshire.  Fair play to MK Dons - they’ve got themselves a proper ground here. Shame they decided to stick the away fans in what can only be described as “that corner over there where we won’t have to look at you.” But did we care? Did we heck! We’ve been louder in li...