Oldham Athletic's home form has been their achilles heel this season; two wins, one draw - and after Wednesday - nine losses.

Put to the sword by Nigel Clough's Mansfield Town, it was the Latics' own mistakes which were at fault for all three goals, rather than Stags excellence.

The match

It was a first-half which was in itself made up of two very different halves on Wednesday night at Boundary Park.

Alfie McCalmont gave Latics the lead early on, his rather tame effort going through the hands of Mansfield goalkeeper Aidan Stone. Oldham piled on the pressure and were on top. McCalmont and the rest of the midfield performed well, closing down their counterparts.

Dylan Bahamboula troubled the Stags defence, his trickery allowing him to skip past on a number of occasions - although he could not convert any chances into goals.

Oldham were ultimately their own undoing, however, with goalkeeping and defensive mistakes - just as for Mansfield for the first goal - the key issue. The Stags equalised through Harry Charsley in the 36th minute after he pounced on a ball which had been punched out by Ian Lawlor to the edge of the box.

Just two minutes later, Mansfield doubled their tally for the evening. After the ball was headed into the box, it was then nodded down to Ryan Sweeney who converted from close range; Lawlor could have done more to stop it.

The half's antics were not over yet. Frenchman Raphael Diarra knocked over George Maris inside of the 18-yard box and the referee pointed to the spot. Jordan Bowery stepped up to take it and his weak shot clipped the outside of the woodwork and went wide of the goal.

The break, ushered in by the sound of Bicep's 'Glue' (dance tracks have been a new addition to Boundary Park this season), did not result in a change in Oldham's fortunes.

A triple-substitution was made at half-time: Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, Zak Dearnley and Dylan Fage replaced Callum Whelan, Jordan Barnett and Raphael Diarra. It did not do much to help Oldham.

After coming close to setting up what would have been an equaliser, Borthwick-Jackson was at fault at the back when he left Jamie Reid open and with space to run in behind the Latics back-line.

Dearnley's spells with Oldham have both had a similar theme - lots of promise, but marred by injury. His latest is no different, and on Wednesday evening, he was forced off in the 68th minute; replaced by Andrea Badan, who made his first appearance since September.

There was late entertainment as Conor McAleny cooly converted from inside the box after a deflected Danny Rowe shot landed in his path to pull one goal back for Oldham, but in the end, it proved to be mere consolation.

More to follow

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