TUESDAY night’s pitch invasion received traction across social media, but it’s probably wrong to say that it was a protest in any sense of the word.

Unlike others there was no organisation (publicly or otherwise), no banners and no accompanying soundtrack of anti-Abdallah chants. The Athleticos as a group were not in attendance and the pitch invasion was a spur-of-the-moment thing rather than a demonstration.

For those who were not at the game, it’s worth providing the context for what things were like in the Rochdale Road End during the Wigan game.

Standing in the freezing cold on a Tuesday night, you usually see the same few faces who you’d also likely find on the terraces at Barrow away. There are others who only do the home games, but the makeup of those in the stand rarely changes.

Except from, that is, during the school holidays. While many regular fans opted to stay at home instead of go to the game, the central block was instead filled with kids – a very large portion of which do not support Oldham.

As is the case when the group are not formally there, I stood where I have for the past few years before this season – the old block nearest the north stand. From there, it was easy to see tensions building throughout the match as stewards attempted (to no avail, of course) to get people in the middle to sit down, and then threw a fan out of the ground.

At half-time, I then saw something I can’t ever recall happening before at an Oldham game. The two fans who were thrown out climbed over the top of the stand and got back in, watched on by stewards who stood chatting and looking rather than doing anything. Things boiling over was to be expected, but little happened.

Then came the moment after 6-0 when people started to spill onto the pitch. Did they protest the current ownership? No. The kids on the pitch decided it would be better to mimic Cristiano Ronaldo’s celebration (many were United fans after all) and get pictures with Dylan Bahamboula. It made a mockery of the hard work done by supporters’ groups over the past few seasons.

Some fans of other clubs now have an image of supporters’ frustrations merely being troublemaking kids rather than true discontent. In truth, it is the latter, but we should look to the likes of Leyton Orient and Blackpool to see how to be gain respect from the wider football community while making our voices heard.