COTTERILL IS A LITTLE CONCERNED
SUCH are the extremely high standards Bristol City have set in League One so far this term, it says a lot when manager Steve Cotterill spoke of his disappointment after only drawing at improving Oldham.
The Robins continue to fly high at the table’s summit, still eight points clear of second-placed Preston, but Cotterill was clearly not satisfied after his side had been pegged back by a wonder strike from Carl Winchester at Boundary Park.
Cotterill’s mood was not helped by a worrying injury to midfielder Mark Little, who went to the Royal Oldham Hospital with a dislocated shoulder, but he felt his side ought to have gone on to take maximum points.
Cotterill, whose team extended their unbeaten run to nine games, said: “I didn’t think it was a good game, neither side played particularly well.
“Maybe in the second half we should have gone on to secure the win, but when you miss chances like we did, this is what happens.
“Those missed opportunities have cost us dearly here, and we’ve got to do a bit better in front of goal.
“The pitch was poor, though having said that it was a bobbly surface for both teams. It’s no excuse.
“I was disappointed with the Oldham goal. Frank Fielding has made a couple of good saves towards the end, but he didn’t do as well with the goal.
“It’s just not been a great day all round. I’m worried about Mark Little because it looked a bad one. They couldn’t get his shoulder back in.”
The third tier’s runaway leaders bossed a goalless first period and created the bulk of the chances.
Luke Freeman was inspirational in the middle of the park and he zipped an effort inches wide early on.
Veteran striker Aaron Wilbraham then nodded Korey Smith’s pinpoint cross a whisker past the post.
Oldham’s best effort came from midfielder Mike Jones, whose piledriver was superbly beaten away by Frank Fielding.
An expertly-worked goal fired the Robins in front with 20 minutes left. Freeman eventually cut the ball back for Wilbraham to poach his 18th goal of the season.
However, Oldham replied four minutes later when Irish youngster Winchester smashed home from 30 yards.
Oldham boss Dean Holden said: “I thought we deserved to win. That was a really pleasing performance from my lads against a top team who are going to win this division with ease.
“They will do well in the Championship too.
“Carl’s struck a great goal, though I wasn’t surprised by it. He’s got that in his locker and it was a terrific strike.
“We can all take a lot of confidence from this performance. “We can go to Crawley on Monday bullish now. That’s a different challenge, but we’ve shown lately that we'll be more than ready for it.”