As Storm Dennis brought havoc across the UK, George Williams brought havoc to Dino Maamria’s Oldham side has he salvaged a late point for Forest Green Rovers.

Oldham looked sharpest starting the game and Gevaro Nepomuceno almost gave them an early lead when he cut inside from the right and tried to curl the ball into the top corner. His attempt went just wide.

Up the other end of the pitch, Aitchison had a shot well saved by Gary Woods; the youngster was an impressive performer for Forest Green.

In the 15th minute, Chris McCann went close from long range and Thomas struggled to keep hold of the ball. This marked a short period of dominance from Oldham, with Dearnley and Smith linking up well.

Dearnley nearly scored in the 24th minute when he hit a thunderous shot towards goal. The ball crashed off the crossbar before the rebound was held by Thomas.

Rovers were very impressive in the technical side of the game and were causing Oldham some trouble with their strong passing ability. Collins almost took full advantage of this on the brink of half time. The 22-year-old hit a strong sold which Woods saved well. The sides were level at half time.

More of the same followed the half time break, as the game continued to be pretty drab in nature. A goalkeeping error in the 56th minute, however, was enough to break the deadlock. Zak Mills had a cross poorly cleared and the ball fell to Gevaro Nepomuceno who hit a shot from 25 yards that somehow wormed through the ‘keeper’s hands.

Oldham then reverted type as Zak Dearnley was replaced by Mohammed Maouche and the Latics sat back into a more defensive style. Missilou went close in the 71st minute with a long-range effort but Rovers had become the more dominant side.

Williams, in particular, was causing Oldham’s defence some trouble and his free-kick nearly led to a Rovers return when Kitching got on the end of it and rattled the crossbar; he should have scored.

10 minutes later it was Williams who completed the inevitable. The Welshman was given too much space on the edge of the penalty area and unleashed a powerful shot into the top corner; a fine finish.

In the dying minutes, Oldham really should have won the game. Maouche played Nepomuceno clean through on goal. The Curacaoan made the bizarre decision of trying to round the ‘keeper instead of shooting. He ended up in a crowd of backtracking defenders and the ball was cleared. The game finished 1-1 and, all in all, the scoreline was a fair reflection of the game.

FULL TIME: Oldham Athletic 1-1 Forest Green Rovers.

Attendance: 2720 (107 away).

Lineups –

Oldham Athletic: Woods, Mills, Nepomuceno, Missilou (Sylla, 73), McCann ©, Smith (Branger-Engone, 83), Piergianni, Hamer, Dearnley (Maouche,66), Rowe, Borthwick-Jackson

Substitutes: De La Paz, Branger-Engone, Maouche, Wilson, N’Guessan, Sylla, Dieseruvwe

Forest Green Rovers: Thomas, Rawson, Winchester ©, Collins (March, 68), Adams, Brown (Hall,60), Dawson, McGinley, Kitching, Aitchison (Williams, 60), Stokes

Substitutes: Logan, Mills, Stevens, Williams, Hall, Frear, March

Referee: Marc Edwards

words Chris Stringer, D3D4 Oldham correspondent