Forest Green and Oldham remind us why we love football in just 27 minutes

On the night that the Champions League returned on the continent, it was the tiny town of Nailsworth in southern Gloucestershire that saw football played in its purest form.

Forest Green Rovers beat Oldham Athletic 4-3 to move within a point of League Two leaders Cambridge United, but even the eye-catching final score does not do justice to 27 minutes of play that had little structure or tactical discipline yet were packed with fearless attacking and noteworthy incidents.

It has been easy to fall out of love with football in the last few months. The chance of supporters returning to stadiums was taken away once the latest national lockdown was announced. There seems to be a game on television at all hours of the day, and the quality of many of them is suffering under the strain of the most packed fixture list in living memory.

Just enjoying the highlights of a fixture like this would be enough to have even the biggest sceptic of ‘lockdown football’ glued to the screen.

This game originally showed no signs of lifting the gloom though. Two goals from defender Bailly Cargill gave Rovers a commanding-looking lead that created the impression this one would be following the form book.

Cargill arrived at the New Lawn in January after struggling for game time at MK Dons. He was part of an MK side that won automatic promotion from the fourth tier in 2019 and has most often played centre-back since graduating from the Bournemouth academy.

Rovers boss Mark Cooper has deployed him at left-back in the last four games though due to a shift from a back three to a back four.

Whilst the change of position may appear slightly unconventional, it more than paid off after just 12 minutes at the New Lawn.

The defender strode forward onto a loose ball after a one-two with Josh Davison broke down before advancing into the penalty area and poking a shot into the far corner with an ease that made a mockery of the fact it was just his fifth career goal.

His second of the evening was far more conventional, yet also gave a brief indication that defensive errors would be a theme of the evening. An Aaron Collins free-kick was headed up rather than away by Latics’ captain Carl Piergianni and Cargill was far braver than goalkeeper Ian Lawlor in attacking the dropping ball to nod home.

The home side doubling their lead looked as though it would set the pattern for the game.

Oldham had started brightly with a diamond midfield helping them retain long spells of possession in their opponents’ half, but they struggled to threaten what was the third-best defence in League Two at kick-off and defensive lapses – they now have conceded more goals than any other side in the division – always looked like holding them back.

The 27-minute period that followed was therefore as surprising as it was exhilarating.

The comeback was instigated by Davis Keillor-Dunn five minutes before the interval. The midfielder has come into his own in recent weeks for Harry Kewell’s side, practically holding a Goal of the Month competition of his own in January thanks to brilliant strikes against Walsall, Newport and Salford, but it was his ability to drive with the ball that gave Oldham a lifeline.

The Latics’ number ten beat Forest Green defender Dan Sweeney in the centre circle, strode forward to the edge of the box with just four touches and then released Bobby Grant to his right.

The EFL veteran lifted his shot over goalkeeper Lewis Thomas and the desperate lunges of Ebou Adams and Udoka Godwin-Malife on the line to half the deficit and inject absolute chaos into proceedings.

Kewell’s men sensed a vulnerability in the heart of the Forest Green defence and began to flood it with bodies. Their midfield diamond became more a spattering of sparkling attacking gems that constantly had Adams and midfield partner Elliott Whitehouse chasing shadows.

The half-time whistle only came as temporary relief for Cooper’s side. He brought on Jamille Matt so they could avoid the midfield massacre and play directly to the former Newport striker, but it did little to stop the waves of attack from the visitors.

It was at this point that the game lost all of its shape or tactical order. Even though the Greater Manchester side were in the ascendency, they still looked susceptible to conceding on the counter-attack – it was end-to-end football uncontaminated by the instructions of those on the sidelines.

Oldham’s equaliser came, unsurprisingly, through some neat midfield interplay. Marcel Hilssner was released in the box after a flick from Grant, and although his initial effort was saved by Thomas, top-scorer Conor McAleny was on hand to set himself before angling a shot beyond the goalkeeper.

The Latics had all of the momentum at this point, best emphasised by the fact that Kewell had become progressively less vocal towards referee Robert Lewis, but their formation had left them vulnerable to attacks down the flanks and Forest Green capitalised on this glaring weakness to regain their lead.

Birmingham loanee Odin Bailey escaped down the right and hung up a teasing cross that Matt could hardly have missed from.

The Oldham players complained to Lewis that the Rovers’ striker had pushed Sido Jombati, but their protests were more likely due to the fact they had relinquished the parity they had done so well to achieve rather than a genuine belief an offence had been committed.

They were level again just three minutes later though. A Forest Green counter-attack broke down allowing Hilssner to slide a pass into Alfie McCalmont before he did similar to set up McAleny on the edge of the box. His early strike across Thomas left the ‘keeper with no chance and ensured his team-mates were left with little time to feel sorry for themselves.

Whether it was due to the excitement of the game or a genuine lack of tactical discipline, the left side of the visitor’s defence was once again exposed when the hosts re-took the lead.

Substitute Isaac Hutchinson plundered down the right-wing in much the same fashion as Bailey before him, delivering an inch-perfect cross that it would have been criminal of Davison to not head home his first Rovers goal from.

The game could never continue at the intensity it had reached in the previous 30 minutes, and it was unfortunately Oldham who found themselves a goal down when the game reverted to something we are more accustomed to witnessing most weekends.

They pushed hard for a third equaliser, seeing a Grant strike ruled out for a tight offside call before Piergianni hit the post with a header from an injury-time corner.

The offside decision only further added to the drama, as once an analyst had informed Kewell that the decision was marginal at best, the Champions League winner, who appeared at two World Cups for Australia, spent the remaining minutes berating both the fourth official and referee Lewis – the clearest sign yet that normality had set in once more.

Had Piergianni’s effort found the back of the net it would have been the dramatic ending such a game deserved. The half an hour in which the momentum of the contest violently swung from one side to the other saw football played unlike the ‘lockdown’ variety that has been characterised by low-scoring affairs lacking either intensity or intrigue.

Both managers stood on the touchline bellowing instructions and frantically discussing changes of personnel and formation with their coaching staff, but it was as if the game took on a life of its own for that period that neither Cooper nor Kewell could do anything to restrain or control.

Both lamented their side’s defensive fragility in their post-match interviews, showing once again that the life of the football manager is so far removed from that of the spectator.

In the future, if they ever find a spare 27 minutes to watch back the period between Grant’s game-igniting goal and Davison’s eventual winner they will both surely appreciate that the spell of unmanageable chaos at the New Lawn was exactly why we all love football.

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