The Oldham Evening Chronicle rightly observed that last Saturday's clash at Boundary Park "was a game neither team could afford to draw."

It reported that "Athletic, who can't start to relax just yet, managed to pick up three points for the second successive occasion at home thanks to Deane Smalley's winner two minutes before full-time.

"It also banged another nail in the coffin for the Pirates' own hopes of making the play-offs at the other end of the division — which goes some way to explaining the excitement of the latter stages of the second half, as the visitors committed men forward looking for a winning goal of their own.

The Chronicle added: "One of the main talking points of the opening period was an injury to Chris Taylor. The Athletic winger was the victim of a heavy challenge for which Chris Lines was booked inside the first 10 minutes.

"Athletic emerged from their first-half slumber to produce a much more energetic display after the break.

"It took only three minutes to find a breakthrough. Paul Black delicately drove a chipped cross towards the back post from deep and Guy was lurking to angle a side-footed volley back across Andersen and into the far corner.

"Guy then went down under a challenge from centre-back Steve Elliott — booked for a crude lunge by Colbeck just before half-time — and the Rovers man was lucky to stay on the field as referee Mark Halsey showed leniency.

"The visitors, committing numbers to their attack, got back into it and would have equalised but for Black's foot deflecting behind a Danny Coles header from a corner.

"And their goal, when it came, was well-constructed. Jeff Hughes slipped in substitute Andy Williams down the left side of the area and his low cross was side-footed home by Kuffour for a strike which could easily have knocked the stuffing out of the home side.

"That wasn't the case. With five minutes left substitute Tom Eaves came close when his far-post header drifted a yard or two off target, and soon after that Smalley was celebrating his third goal of the season."

The Bristol Evening Post described how Paul Trollope "was again left to bemoan Rovers' failure to beat one of the sides from the bottom half of League One after the defeat at Oldham virtually killed off play-off hopes.

Trollope said: "We have a good record against teams in the top half of the table, and not such a good record against teams in the bottom - and that seems to encapsulate our season.

The manager felt his side should have punished Oldham in the first half and was critical of his side's defending for the two goals they conceded after the break.

"We felt we dominated the first half and passed the ball around well. We had pushed them back, but we didn't quite create the openings that we wanted though we did have a few chances," he said.

"We spoke about starting in the same vein at the start of the second half, but we didn't do it.

"Oldham got the lift they wanted with an early goal after what was, from our point of view, a poor bit of defending.

"It came from a long diagonal ball, which we didn't deal with very well and that took the wind out of our sails. It took us about 15 minutes to get going again.

"But we scored a good goal to get back into the game and were then bold in trying to go for the winner.

"We then left ourselves open a little bit at times. It was disappointing to lose a game that we thought we should have taken something from."

The headline in the Milton Keynes Citizen read "It's definitely not Easter's Monday!" after Mikkel Anderson's great save from Jermaine Easter's spot kick in the Bank Holiday game.

It reported how assistant manager Karl Robinson "was left cursing Dons' luck with injuries and illness after Saturday's defeat to Charlton - and things didn't get any better at Bristol Rovers where Willy Gueret joined that lengthy list.

"The ever-present keeper was forced to sit out for the first time in 81 games. He seemed to be struggling with his kicking on Saturday and so it was no great surprise that he was sidelined with a groin strain - enter Stuart Searle for his Football League debut.

"And after a smart stop from Darryl Duffy inside 60 seconds the 31-year-old enjoyed a relatively easy first 45 minutes as Dons had the best of few chances on goal - the best falling to Mark Randall who fired at Mikkel Andersen from inside the six-yard box. Aaron Wilbraham also forced the on-loan Reading keeper into a good save before half time.

"But if Dons were comfortable in the first half they were anything but 10 minutes into the second as Jo Kuffour claimed a last touch on a Chris Lines shot that deceived Searle. The keeper and David McCracken were both booked for their protests in claiming that the Pirates striker used his hand to score.

"Dons had a perfect opportunity to hit back when Luke Chadwick was pulled to ground in the penalty area, but Jermaine Easter's spot-kick was superbly saved by Anderson.

"Both sides still harboured faint play-off hopes going into the game, but after this loss Dons can kiss theirs goodbye."