Owen Dale almost marked his return from a recent loan spell at Altrincham with a goal just seconds after replacing Charlie Kirk against Oldham Athletic. Dale sprung from the substitutes’ bench on Saturday and so nearly scored with his first touch after he had read a stray back pass.

The young winger, making his first appearance of the season at frist-team level was a bit unfortunate to hit the leg of the onrushing Daniel Iversen as he tried to instantly fire through him.

If it had gone in, it could have possibly have changed the closing stages of the game as moments later, fellow substitute, George Ray had a header cleared from close to the line.

Following the 2-0 defeat to Oldham, an honest Owen told iFollow the Alex: "In my opinion I've got to score there. I tried to be a bit cute with it. I tried to put it through his legs. Maybe it would have been better to have smashed it as hard as I could and try to break the back of the net.

"I'll learn from it, move on and next time I get that opportunity I'll put it away.

"It feels like the hard work has paid off a bit. I feel I'm more ready than I was a year ago, a lot's changed and I've improved a lot.

"I know I've still got a long way to go to make an impact, but I feel like the time is now for me. Hopefully I can help the team get results."