Can Oldham Athletic chase down the top spot?

It’s been two long seasons since Oldham Athletic have played in the Football League.

But now there is just a glimmer of hope that the 2025-26 season could see them rising up again to play League Two football.

That said, it looks like there may still be quite a mountain to climb for the Latics if they want to avoid the playoffs and earn automatic promotion to the higher tier.

As we’ll see, there are obstacles but everyone at Boundary Park will be fervently hoping that with a lot of effort, and more than a little luck, these may not be insurmountable.

The season so far

At the end of last season, it saw the team finish an undistinguished 10^th in the table, 35 points adrift from the champions Chesterfield.

This, amongst other things, led manager Micky Mellon to pronounce that it was time for the squad to undergo “major surgery”.

The first scalpel cuts came with the release of Mark Shelton, Nathan Sheeran and Joe Nuttall who is now on a season-long loan to Altrincham.

In the pre-season matches it looked like there was still quite a lot to do.

Two wins and two draws from seven matches didn’t do very much to inspire confidence.

However, the season proper began with a definitive 3-0 win over Braintree Town followed by a 1-0 victory at Wealdstone.

Things continued to go well with only one loss in the first twelve matches when Aldershot Town managed a 4-1 thrashing on August 24^th.

Since then up to the end of January, the team have only lost another three times and won on another nine occasions.

While this has put them in a good position at fifth in the table, another loss to Aldershot followed by one to York City in the match postponed from Boxing Day have set a few alarm bells ringing, something that is being reflected in the most recent sports betting for the team.

The players who’ll need to step up

It’s at the mid-way point in the season that the pressure really starts to show on a team.

They may be in a good position, but there’s still a long way to go before the finishing line.

Ironically, it may act to Oldham’s advantage that they no longer have to dedicate attention to cup games with the FA Cup and the Trophy brought to abrupt ends by Leyton Orient and Stockton Town respectively.

So Mellon will be looking to all of the squad to perform, but these three players in particular.

At 31, Mike Fondop still seems to have plenty of miles left in the tank and this season has been top scorer for the team with ten goals from league games and two from the unsuccessful FA Cup run.

Increasingly used as a substitute, he’s been effective in this position too.

Other players that Mellon has singled out for praise are Alex Reid and Josh Kay.

Following a successful season out on loan to Wealdstone, Reid seems to be totally re-energised while Kay’s started his two-year contract with the team adding real positivity and energy to the midfield.

Injury worries

However, it’s a concern that the mid part of the season has also seen injuries starting to mount up  – but not so surprising when many players have been turning out week after week since the middle of July.

One major headache for the team is the absence of striker James Norwood through injury, reported to be a groin strain.

The player had already missed the start of the season due to a calf tear.

Also sidelined for the foreseeable future is captain Tom Conlon with a serious Achilles injury

There have also been the notable losses of two members of the squad, Sam Clucas and Josh Stones who, respectively have moved back to Wigan Athletic and been transferred to Lincoln City.

The obstacles to be overcome

Besides the injuries and the hole left in the squad by various players’ departures, there seems to be a groundswell of opinion among fans that Mellon may himself be hampering the team’s chances.

There’s been a certain level of criticism that the Scottish manager sticks too rigidly to his game plans when a more conventional 4-4-2 approach might work better with the players he has at his disposal.

There have also been doubts cast on some of the more recent signings who, some feel, aren’t really providing proper value for money.

That said, there is plenty of time for the Latics to improve their position.

They don’t trail leaders Forest Green Rovers by that much and a few poor results for teams higher in the table can soon change things quite dramatically.

That, at least, is what everyone at Boundary Park will be hoping for if Oldham really are to rejoin the Football League next season.