Personnel concerns for Oldham clash

Jan 21 2008 by Dougie Thomson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

TOWN boss Andy Ritchie will begin the build-up to Saturday’s big FA Cup fourth-round tie at Oldham with a head count!

He will certainly be without Chris Brandon and Joe Skarz at Boundary Park after a red and yellow card respectively at Brighton, where Robbie Williams’ superbly-struck 76th-minute free-kick earned Town a 1-1 draw after the home side had gone in front through a Tommy Elphick header two minutes earlier.

And Ritchie, whose side are 15th in the table after a game seen by 5,343 (190 Town fans) , also has injury concerns over Andy Holdsworth and Danny Schofield as well as longer-term absentee Andy Booth.

Midfielder Brandon, the hero of Town’s FA Cup third-round win over Premier League Birmingham, must now serve a three-match ban (he will also miss the home League I game with Bournemouth tomorrow week and the trip to Yeovil the Saturday after).

He was sent off along with Brighton’s Gary Hart after the pair clashed following the final whistle.

Left-back Skarz, who made a first start in nine matches at the Withdean Stadium after goalscorer Williams was moved into midfield, serves a one-match suspension after his fifth caution of the campaign.

While striker Booth is hoping to overcome a thigh problem which has kept him out of the last three matches, midfielder Schofield missed the Brighton trip after failing to respond to treatment on a shin injury suffered during training on Thursday.

Fellow midfielder Holdsworth came off 58 minutes into Saturday’s match with a twisted ankle (Skarz suffered a similar problem and was replaced after 71 minutes).

“It’s probably just as well we don’t have to go to Swindon tomorrow,” said Ritchie, referring to a scheduled match which had to be put back to Tuesday, March 4, to allow the Wiltshire side to play their FA Cup third-round replay at Barnet.

“The injuries are a worry, but all we can do is give the players involved the necessary treatment and hope they come through by Saturday’s game.”

Ritchie declared himself happy with his team’s performance if not that of referee Roger East.

“We knew it wouldn’t be a pretty game and we set our stall out accordingly,” he said.

“We’ll take an ugly draw, although we had the better chances and could have nicked it.

“We didn’t defend in the right areas against Gillingham, but we changed that and were better at the back, and the lads stood up and were men, which is something they have to do every week.”

On Brandon’s red card, Ritchie said: “You don’t like to see incidents like that, but the referee said they head-butted each other and I don’t think that was the case.

“There should have been some common sense and a yellow card apiece.

“There was also a clear push in the build-up to their goal and there’s just no way the referee should miss something like that.

“I was like a jumping jack due to some of the decisions.”