Friday March 24, 2023 is a day that will go down in history for Oldham Athletic. The day that finally, after years of wrangling, the football club and stadium came back under one ownership.

The Rothwells have already given us so much to celebrate in the last 10 months but that news was the best of all bringing to a close a saga that had lasted for years.

Frank and his family promised that this would happen and, while it took longer than he’d hoped - there had to be proper due diligence of course - they got there in the end and Oldham Athletic is a club united to Boundary Park and the surrounding land once more, under owners who we can entirely trust have the best interests of the club and town at heart.

On Saturday, there was an excited buzz around the ground. Long queues were seen in the club shop and the fans bar was packed with its usual mix of beer, food and a DJ, along with a new DJ banging on the blue and tangerine drums with his flat cap on!

We even had a delay to kick off as our wonderfully eccentric owner carried onto the pitch a large tin foil key to signify the stadium purchase followed by a speech including LED floodlights, rugby league and a new pitch, which was so typically Frank and one of the many reasons we love him!

On the pitch, we took an early lead through a fine strike by Mark Kitching, who has been in excellent form recently. Then followed what I would describe as a passive performance from the team. We weren’t sitting back as such, it’s just we weren’t really out and out going for the second.

Throughout the second half, I felt that second was needed and so it was proven when Solihull scored with a stoppage time overhead kick. Two points dropped.

Back to the capital on Tuesday for a drenched visit to Wealdstone and a solid first half, with a much needed goal for Joe Nuttall, was followed by a defensively atrocious first 15 minutes of the second which saw the Stones turn the score on its head. Nuttall restored parity from the spot after a change to three at the back as the gaffer attempted to stem the tide.

With one cleared off the line and Fondop coming very close with a header right at the death, it did feel like two points dropped again.

Three draws in a row and, after Unsworth’s comment about not being able to win there earlier in the season, let’s hope we actually set out to threaten, and ultimately try and beat Wrexham, to dent their title challenge on Saturday.