Anthony Gerrard has re-joined Oldham Athletic after leaving Shrewsbury Town last week.
The defender’s signing was announced on Oldham’s new Snapchat account before Tuesday night’s encounter with, ironically, Shrewsbury.
Having been lacking a leader at the back this season, Gerrard’s impact was immediately felt as Oldham left Greenhous Meadow with all three points and a much coveted clean sheet in a 1-0 win.
The Merseysider started his career with Everton, before joining Walsall where he played over 150 games. His performances earned him a move to Cardiff City where he played for three years before moving to Huddersfield Town.
It was from Yorkshire that he left for a loan spell at Oldham last season and impressed with his no-nonsense style defending. A free agent in summer, Gerrard joined the Shrews in October on a non-contract basis which was terminated last week.
Lying third from bottom in League One, Oldham have been crying out for a Gerrard-type defender. Combinations of Tim Dieng, James Wilson and Brian Wilson have failed to yield clean sheets and all have played their part in schoolboy errors throughout the season.
Gerrard comes in to add a dash of ‘old-school’ defending and made an immediate impact on his second début last night in Shropshire. Oldham registered their first league clean sheet since October and banked a win which sees them close the gap to safety to five points.
As the season enters the crucial stages, Oldham have a mountain to climb. John Sheridan said before the Shrewsbury game that nine wins were needed from the remaining 20 games. Gerrard’s return yielded an immediate result but with eight wins still required, the task remains one of giant proportions.
With the lowest goal-scoring record in the third tier, a striker has to be next on Sheridan’s agenda. Should a goalscorer materialise, maybe Oldham fans can begin to believe that staying up is very possible.
