COUNTY were thrown further into the mire on Saturday thanks to a brace from former Edgeley Park favourite Aaron Wilbraham and an inspired performance from visiting goalkeeper Les Pogliacomi.

Wilbraham made a one-month loan switch to Oldham last Friday morning from Hull City, and on Saturday he was thrown straight in at the sharp end of this latest crucial six-pointer.

Hopes among the County fraternity were high going into this one, with Oldham winless in eight and the home side having restored no little pride with an encouraging performance the previous weekend at Port Vale.

However, within two minutes there was a wake-up call for Sammy McIlroy's men when John Eyre thumped a cracking 25-yard shot against the County crossbar. David Eyres should have done better with the rebound, but he fired his shot wide from just 10 yards.

Oldham were in almost total control early on and they deservedly went ahead on 13 minutes. Veteran Eyres played the ball into Wilbraham and he turned Lee Cartwright inside out before drilling home a low shot.

It was a disastrous and morale-sapping start for the Hatters, but they responded minutes later when Rickie Lambert's inswinging cross was glanced inches over the crossbar by the back-in-favour John Hardiker.

Lambert was then unlucky when his powerful goalbound free-kick was deflected off target by the heel of Luke Beckett, and just beyond the half-hour Pogliacomi somehow got across to block Marc Bridge-Wilkinson's close-range volley at the far post.

But Oldham stood firm and they went further ahead on 40 minutes - it was that man Wilbraham again. He curled home a sweet shot following a neat one-two with Kevin Betsy just outside the County box.

The home fans were stunned, but just three minutes later a County corner wasn't sufficiently cleared and Bridge-Wilkinson rifled home through a sea of legs from just outside the box.

Reducing the deficit gave the Hatters some heart, and either side of the hour mark Warren Feeney and Bridge-Wilkinson both came close to levelling matters.

As the clock ticked down County kept their foot on the gas, but chances were fired high or wide, or Pogliacomi dived this way and that to keep out everything that was on target.

Feeney couldn't quite direct his shot from a super Bridge-Wilkinson cross, substitute Stuart Barlow rifled in a drive that was acrobatically palmed away by the goalkeeper, and similarly in stoppage time Pogliacomi somehow stretched to beat away Lambert's arrowing 30-yard piledriver.

It was a grandstand finish from County, but again it wasn't quite enough.

It could well have been wrapped good and proper up by Wilbraham four minutes before time, but he glanced a header inches wide from a tempting Kelvin Lomax cross.

• COUNTY: Spencer, Jackman, Williams A, Griffin, Lambert, Cartwright, Welsh (Barlow, 68), Hardiker, Beckett, Feeney, Bridge-Wilkinson. Subs not used: Cutler, Mair, Goodwin, Allen. Booked: Hardiker. Star Man: Warren Feeney.

• OLDHAM ATHLETIC: Pogliacomi, Holden, Haining (Arber, 12), Appleby, Eyre (Lee, 25), Johnson (Vernon, 83), Wilbraham, Hall, Betsy, Eyres, Lomax. Subs not used: Griffin, Bossu. Booked: Appleby, Pogliacomi.

Attendance: 6,146.

Referee: R J Booth.

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