Maamria demands more from strikers after Orient draw
Posted Sunday, December 08, 2019 by PA
Oldham head coach Dino Maamria could not hide his frustration after his shot-shy strikers were unable to make a telling impact during a 1-1 home draw with fellow strugglers Leyton Orient.
Winger Jonny Smith had put the hosts in front in the second minute, but the pressure that followed Jordan Maguire-Drew’s 25th-minute equaliser failed to yield three points at Boundary Park, where David Jones hit the woodwork with an 88th-minute free-kick on his debut.
“The players gave it absolutely everything they have got, but we came up short and that’s where we are at the moment,” said Maamria.
“We have got to be honest about it and look at the squad we have. We are trying our hardest here to find a team that is going to score goals and win football matches.
“We are not scoring enough goals. We only have three centre-forwards – Desire Segbe Azankpo, Scott Wilson and Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro, who started today and was tremendous for the 80 minutes he played until his legs went a little bit, which is understandable. Desire and Scott need to do a lot more.
“It forced me to put Jonny Smith up front as he has got threat, as he showed with his goal.
“My front line need to do a lot more. We put a lot of great balls into the box and I wish I had been playing at centre-forward as we would have been scoring goals.”
Oldham, whose supporters held a pre-match protest against the regime of owner Abdallah Lemsagam, had their spirits lifted when Smith opened the scoring, racing clear to slot home left-footed.
The visitors levelled when Maguire-Drew bundled home from Lee Angol’s centre, but the overall performance of his side left Orient interim head coach Ross Embleton deflated.
“We had talked all week about getting that winning feeling back and so you feel disappointed that we didn’t perform here,” he said.
“It won’t be one we will all remember in terms of the quality of the game. I thought it was one of the worst games of football I have ever seen.
“So to come away from a poor game with a poor performance yet a point on the road, we have to be happy.
“The start summed us up. We looked sluggish and, to a degree, I take some responsibility for that as we played on Wednesday night and I picked a familiar team. In hindsight, fresher legs might have helped us.
“At the same time, we were off the pace and it told in the way we were caught for their goal. We had no real energy or bite about us.
“We worked our goal well. Lee Angol did well in setting up the chance and he didn’t travel with the rest of the team due to illness, so he put his body on the line.”
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