Same old story for City

Another black day for Colin Todd and City.

They have suffered their fair share of dark times against Oldham. Played five, lost five reads the record against these bogey opponents.

And while not quite as depressing as the last larruping in Lancashire three weeks earlier at Blackpool, City headed back over the Pennines with an all-too-familiar deflated air.

If that was not bad enough, Todd's newest loan capture barely survived beyond the half-hour mark.

Tommy Black's debut will go down in the annulls of awfulness as he exposed the gamble that you always take throwing in a loan player with so little match-time under their belt.

He is undoubtedly a very good player - just ask John Swift after his Gillingham lesson in April. And he is a much better winger than City's sizeable away support saw on Saturday.

But he had played only once before this season in the Carling Cup. And that lack of first-team fitness was cruelly evident.

It did not make it any easier for Black that he was in for the fans' favourite Jermaine Johnson, who Todd kept on the bench because he feared fatigue from his midweek exertions in Jamaica.

That would have been a logical reason to leave him out provided his replacement was fit and firing. Sadly, Black was neither.

He looked a yard short from the start and, without JJ's blistering speed, could not make use of the surprising amount of room Oldham gave him.

Passes went astray, frustration grew as he clashed with Richie Wellens, and his wretched afternoon ended with a completely misplaced pass straight to the goalkeeper when Dean Windass was unmarked in the middle and poised to strike.

"It's disappointing for me and the other players as well as for Tommy," said Todd. "But if he's honest, he will realise that he had a lot more time on the ball than JJ and it wasn't working for him. That shows you how short people can be on fitness levels.

"JJ didn't get back from Jamaica until late Friday afternoon having been away all week, which is why I didn't start him. I was always going to bring him on but he probably got the chance earlier than expected."

But Black was not the only under-performer, just the most obvious.

City should know by now that Boundary Park is never a place for the faint-hearted but they failed to heed Todd's pre-match warning.

They may have got within 11 minutes of gleaning an unlikely goalless draw but that would have been robbery. Oldham won the battles all over the pitch.

The only chink of light, not surprisingly, came from the over-worked defence. The fact that City lasted so long before cracking was largely thanks to Donovan Ricketts and his two centre halves.

Ricketts, who showed no ill effects from his transatlantic travails, kept them in the game in the first half with excellent saves on three occasions.

His kicking may be comical - one slice even went backwards to gift Oldham a corner - but there is nothing wrong with the big guy's reflexes. Without them, City would have been buried a lot earlier.

In front of him, Oldham were held at bay by the bravery of centre backs David Wetherall and Simon Ainge. The skipper we know all about and I'm sure he wouldn't mind deflecting the praise towards his rookie partner.

This was only Ainge's second full game and the Crewe debut was a cakewalk. Saturday was totally the other end of the scale as Oldham knocked on the door time and again.

The teenager could have wilted but he stood strong - and sent out an indication that City might have a decent defender in the making. As centre halves go, Ainge is not the tallest but he made up for any lack of inches with his determination and will-to-win.

He had a sticky spell straight after the break, carelessly letting Chris Porter past him on the byline to whip in a cross. And he was almost undone by the Oldham striker when City were caught upfield and Ainge, the last man, appeared to slip before recovering in the nick of time to make a crucial challenge.

But he was quickly back in his stride, defending sensibly and using the ball well, to justify some well-earned praise from his manager.

"He has come out with a lot of credit," said Todd. "I thought he was very good on the day but can't afford to be casual.

"Aingey has got a long way to go in football but I think if he can continue to have a standard like that then it puts him in good stead for the future."

The Oldham crowd included a small delegation from the Saddleworth Modern Railway Society. An afternoon train-spotting at the nearby Mumps Station seemed infinitely more preferable than shivering through another City struggle.

Todd was not the only one going "loco" as his side invited pressure from the outset.

Ricketts sprung to his left to push away a sneaky effort from Paul Warne and then produced a fine double save to keep out Chris Taylor.

The Jamaican had to be at his acrobatic best again to tip over a Warne header, though the Oldham striker should have done better with a clear chance in front of goal.

City were second fiddle in midfield where Wellens was excellent. The former Blackpool man was given the time and space to pick his passes and prompt the home side forward, which they did willingly.

Marc Bridge-Wilkinson, who flitted in and out, was close with a well-disguised free-kick But the moment Black put that through ball straight into Les Pogliacomi's hands, the groan behind the goal summed up the growing feeling that we'd been here before.

JJ's overdue arrival lifted spirits but Oldham know him too well and every time the Jamaican got the ball, he found himself surrounded by a wall of two, three or even four blue shirts.

But City could have snatched the lead two minutes before the break. Colin Healy, another quiet figure, delivered his team's pass of the match to bisect the Oldham back four and pick out a great run by Windass.

City's leading scorer toed it towards goal but Pogliacomi was equal to the threat and did well to gather in the loose ball.

That was as good as it got for the visitors as Oldham continued to dictate. Ricketts saved a Wellens free-kick and Wetherall threw himself in the way of a goal-bound Warne shot before Eddie Johnson should have done better with a header over from a City corner.

But City cracked 11 minutes away from an improbable 0-0. Warne was played onside by Mark Bower as he collected Wellens' pass and squared for Porter to stab home from close range.

With City's resistance broken, Oldham immediately struck again with Porter converting a cross from Andy Liddell to take his tally for the season to 11.

Bower had Pogliacomi scrambling in stoppage time to keep out his downward header. But there is no halting City's downward spiral.