W 1-0 vs Oldham Athletic (A) – Wed 10th Dec, 7.45pm (League Two)

[SaddlerSteve]

The Saddlers travel north again, up the M6 and M60 to face Oldham Athletic at Boundary Park….

The Opposition

Oldham finished last season 5^th in the National League and then went on to win the playoffs to gain promotion back to the Football League. They beat Southend United 3-2 at Wembley in extra time after coming back from 2-1 down.

The Proposition

The Saddlers last outing was a comfortable 2-0 win in the FA Cup away to Gateshead. In the rain drenched north-east, Daniel Kanu stepped up to put away a 25^th minute penalty and then provided the assist for Aden Flint to bag a 2^nd just after half-time. Walsall are on a 4 game winning streak and have only lost 1 of the last 8 games in all competitions.

Oldham exited the FA Cup with a 3-1 away loss against Franchise. Their last league game was also a loss away at Accrington with them going down 1-0. They currently sit 16^th in the table with only 2 wins in the last 9 league games. These wins came against Newport (3-0) and Harrogate (1-0) who are currently the bottom 2 teams in the division.

The First Time

The first meeting between the sides was in last season in Division Three (North) on the 10^th April 1936, which resulted in a 1-2 home loss for the Saddlers.

The Worst Time

A 6-2 away loss in League Division Three on the 15^th October 1966.

The Last Time

The last meeting with Oldham was in League Two on 15^th March 2022 and was a 2-1 home win for us.

Played for both

Sam Mantom plays as a midfielder for Rushall Olympic where he holds the role of player-coach.

Mantom began his career as a youth player for Walsall’s academy before being spotted by West Bromwich Albion. After regularly appearing for the Baggies’ reserve side, Mantom was handed a professional deal by the club. He made his debut for West Brom in the Football League Cup game against Leyton Orient in 2010. He spent most of his 3 years at West Brom on loan to other clubs including Haukar, Tranmere Rovers, Oldham Athletic and Walsall. After his contract was cancelled by the Baggies he would sign for Walsall and spend 3 years with us before going on to play for Scunthorpe United, Southend United, Rushall Olympic and Hemel Hempstead Town. In 2022 he re-joined Rushall and is currently still there.

Oldham

On 17 February 2011 he joined Oldham Athletic on a month–long emergency loan. On 19 February 2011, Mantom made his debut for the Latics in a 1–0 defeat against Bristol Rovers. Mantom made four goalless appearances before returning to his parent club, West Brom.

Walsall

In 2012, Mantom signed for Walsall on loan. Mantom scored on his debut for the Saddlers on the same day in a 3–2 victory over Sheffield United and netted the winning goal in a 3–2 win against Chesterfield on 7 April 2012 as the Saddlers narrowly avoided relegation.

Mantom returned to Walsall on loan in November 2012. He scored his first goal of his second loan spell in a 2–1 defeat against Leyton Orient on 29 December 2012.

In January 2013, Mantom made his loan move to Walsall permanent, joining on a free transfer after West Brom agreed to cancel his contract with the club. Mantom signed an 18-month contract with the Saddlers. Despite a strong second half of the season that lifted Walsall into play-off contention, the Saddlers eventually finished ninth in League One.

Mantom signed a new two–and–a–half–year deal with the club in November 2013. He then scored the only goal of the game in a 1–0 victory over former club Oldham on 14 January 2014 . Mantom scored his fifth goal of the season and was sent off for the first time in his professional career as Walsall lost 2–1 at Preston North End on 1 March 2014. Mantom was rewarded for an impressive campaign at the end of the season by being named the Saddlers’ Player of the Year.

Mantom suffered a knee injury during pre–season training and was sidelined for several of the opening weeks of the 2014–15 season. He eventually made his first appearance of the season as a late substitute in Walsall’s 1–0 defeat against Crawley on 21 October 2014. However, a recurrence of Mantom’s original injury saw him undergo knee surgery in January 2015. The Saddlers finished the season in 3^rd place agonisingly short by 1 point and would go on to be knocked out in the play-offs by Barnsley. Mantom was one of many players that then left the club at the end of the 2015/16 season.

In June 2016, he signed for League One side Scunthorpe United on a free transfer signing a three-year contract, after turning down a new deal at Walsall.

Also:

Timmy Abraham, Kevin Betsy, Darren Byfield, Peter Clarke, Donervon Daniels, Neil Etheridge, Anthony Gerrard, Dean Holden, Jabo Ibehre, Otis Khan, Zak Mills, Manny Monthe, Kieron Morris, Michael Ngoo, Eoghan O’Connell, Richard O’Donnell, David Okagbue, Sam Parkin, Jason Price, Reuben Reid, Michael Ricketts, Mat Sadler, Nathan Sheron, Andy Taylor, Conor Wilkinson, James Wilson….

Comment if you know any more!!!

Lump On

Our record against them is slightly in our favour, W26/D15/L23. With our current run of 7 wins in 8 games (he only loss at home to Colchester) should make us favourites to get something out of this fixture.

Lump Off

Oldham’s last win was also their last game at home, with a 3-0 win against Newport County.

Goal Tally (sponsored by Owly McOwlface)

Daniel Kanu - 9

Aaron Pressley - 4

Evan Weir - 4

Ryan Finnigan - 4

Connor Barrett - 3

Albert Adomah - 3

Ricoh Richards - 2

Aden Flint - 2

Harrison Burke - 1

Charlie Lakin - 1

Jid Okeke - 1

Jamille Matt - 1

Rico Browne - 1

Priestley Farquharson - 1

Courtney Clarke - 1

UTS Match Poll

• Walsall Win
• Draw
• Oldham Win

[cookyskid]

Oldham have the best defensive record in the league (only 13 conceded), with the Daniels/Monthe combination obviously proving very effective! They also have the 3rd worst goals for total. Has goalless draw written all over it, so it will probably end 5-5.

Btw when they give out the away attendance add 2 to it as me and my mate will be amongst the Oldham fans (his mate supports them and has got tickets for us and him in their bit)

[Peel85]

Looking forward to this one my first away game since Cheltenham, I think we will sneak this one 1-2 goals from Finnigan and Matt.

[warsawpact]

@SaddlerSteve

Our record against them is slightly in our favour, W26/D15/L3.

Less “slightly in our favour” than you’ve quoted - we’ve actually lost 23!

[WalsallOne]

I think it will be a draw. 1-1

[KingCrod]

Very much looking forward to this one, I hope and expect Captain Fantastic DD gets a great ovation from the travelling audience. Also will try and get the Mat Sadler song going again.

[AndyWTaylor]

Compared to yesterday’s trip, this is tantamount to a local derby!

[Laundryman]

Thanks Steve. Your efforts are much appreciated.

You have a first, worst and last time but not a best. That would surely be the 3-1 win at Bescot to secure promotion.

[Lukeyboy]

Top preview once again Steve. I must admit I would take a draw now.

[WS12]

Great preview Steve.
The referee for this one is Stephen Parkinson. No idea which part of the UK he is from as it is not listed. He got his promotion to EFL level at the start of the 2024/25 season.
The name might ring a bell to some even though he has only officiated one of our EFL leauge matches, the home 1-1 draw with Crewe back in November 2024 in which he had an absolutely awful performance and issued 8 yellow cards shared evenly between the two teams. He also officiated the cash cow home friendly 1-0 win with Aston Villa back in July this year.
He officiated Oldham in their National Leauge away fixture with Dagenham in February 2025 which was a 2-2 draw, before they went on to win promotion to League 2.
Not sure what to expect from him for this one hopefully his performances have vastly improved since the Crewe game, lets see how this one goes.

[Bluejay]

This fixture is lower league football at its purest, it’s two traditional unglamorous lower league clubs with true loyal working class fans watching in cold grim weather.

Nothing says Division Three like Oldham v Walsall through the ages or at least through the last forty years.

[KennyMower]

Oldham had that golden spell didn’t they - late 80s early 90s under Joe Royle - they made the top flight even

[Shrewsbury-Saddler]

Had three seasons there. In the middle one, they were eight points adrift with a week of the season to go and survived.

[Saddler1977]

Stephen Parkinson??? God help us. He’s in Trevor Kettle/Andy Haines territory.

[Blazing_Saddler]

I would have said they were in there longer, I’m not doubting what you are saying at all, it just feels like that from memory. They were also a minute or two from the FA Cup final.

I’ve been to Oldham probably ten times or more but my lasting memory was playing them in the 88/89 season. We went on a coach from the Miners arms in Rushall. The driver managed to get lost and take us to Old Trafford, United were playing Villa that day. We were 3-0 down when we got there. I think there was only me and my Dad on the coach that bothered going in the ground. Worst fog I have ever seen on the way back, not surprisingly the coach driver got lost again, well if he couldn’t find Oldham in daylight, he had no chance, did he?

[Belphegor]

[Fish]

Many of us predicted, before the fixtures were released, this away trip to Oldham would be on a cold December night.

Worse, for those watching on the Tele, the low camera angle is awful and the players are usually unrecognisable, in silhouette, thanks to Oldham’s extremely bright illuminated advertising boards opposite.

[Sondek]

I’m really looking forward to this away game as it’s my first one since Sunday.

[clawtheolder]

I was at the 1966 game, I think it was Bob Wesson’s first away game I thought at the time what have we signed here but he turned out a very good player. I remember Ken Hodgkinson getting one of our goals.

[AndyWTaylor]

Only just realised that it was exactly 12 months ago yesterday that we beat Port Vile to go top for the first time - it was only after that game that our run of form over the busy Cristmas period up till mid-January got us that large lead. Can we pull away again?