Football: Oldham hit by Morley

Oldham Athletic. . . . . . .1

Holden pen 43

West Ham United. . . . . . .2

Allen 2, Morley 29

Attendance: 11,669

THIS was always going to be a big test for Oldham Athletic after their psychologically damaging exit from the FA Cup, and that they failed it was perhaps no surprise. But if the players were guilty of dwelling on what might have been against Manchester United, they have no time for such thoughts now.

Oldham's plight near the bottom of the Premiership is serious but not yet desperate. They dropped into the relegation zone with this result, but have two games in hand over their nearest rivals. Whether they can take advantage of them depends on their ability to rediscover the sort of form that saw them lose only once in 14 games going into last weekend instead of what they produced yesterday - 'Our worst display for a long time,' as their manager Joe Royle put it.

Oldham did themselves no favours by letting in two goals in the first half hour. West Ham, for whom victory virtually guaranteed them survival in the Premiership, played much the more incisive football and could easily have won by more.

They went ahead after only two minutes, when the Oldham defence allowed Matt Holmes to make an unopposed run into the penalty area and cross for Martin Allen to jab the ball home. It was exactly the start Oldham did not need. In striving for the equaliser, they tended to over-elaborate on the edge of the box, while West Ham made some clean breaks in which the promising Matthew Rush, playing wide on the right, sought to pick up where Andrei Kanchelskis had left off.

Oldham's vulnerability to pace has been a problem all season, and it showed after 29 minutes, when they suffered the calamity of a second goal. Trevor Morley chased down a long ball out of defence and although Jon Hallworth parried his shot superbly, the ball only ran to Allen, who sent it straight back to Morley for a simple tap-in.

Oldham were in disarray in defence, and that they got back into the game, two minutes before half-time, was only thanks to an unnecessary shove on Sean McCarthy by David Burrows, which gave Rick Holden the chance to score from the penalty. It was a break Royle had to capitalise on, and the for the second half he took decisive action, sending on a striker, Darren Beckford, for his left back, Neil Pointon - an especially risky strategy considering it would leave even more room for the dangerous Rush.

As it turned out, the changes did little for Oldham, only encouraging a West Ham who were clearly sensing possibilities against reduced numbers. In the 55th minute it needed a marvellous tackle by Craig Fleming to snuff out the danger as Holmes shaped to shoot, and then Hallworth denied Holmes with an astonishing save with his legs.

It should have been 3-1 in the closing seconds when Morley charged down a Hallworth clearance and the ball rebounded off him into the net. There appeared to be nothing wrong with the goal, but that did not stop the referee disallowing it. From Oldham's point of view, it was academic. The challenge they need to worry about now is the visit of Tottenham on Wednesday.