Oldham Athletic’s Boundary Park nightmare deepened on Saturday as league leaders Barnet delivered a ruthless 3-0 demonstration of why they sit atop the National League table.

The defeat marks 11 consecutive home matches without victory for Micky Mellon’s side, whose last triumph at BP came on December 14 when they staged a dramatic comeback from two goals down to beat Wealdstone 3-2. Saturday’s loss also represents the third straight home game where Latics have failed to find the net.

Mellon rang the changes with five alterations to the side that started at Dagenham, and his reshuffled lineup began brightly, matching Barnet blow for blow in an encouraging first half. Tom Donaghy’s spectacular one-handed save denied the visitors an early opener, while Joe Pritchard and Mike Fondop both went close for the hosts before the interval.

The match turned catastrophically in Oldham’s favor just after the restart. Zak Brunt broke the deadlock on 50 minutes, weaving past three attempted tackles before rifling high into the net. Within 60 seconds, Callum Stead collected his 12th goal of the campaign with a curling finish past the helpless Donaghy. Adebola Oluwo completed the damage six minutes from time, converting at the far post after Latics failed to clear a corner.

“The first half was ok,” Mellon admitted afterward. “But in the second half we gave away a cheap goal and just folded. We deserve all the criticism coming our way. But it’s really disappointing. Very poor and bad goals to give away.”

The defeat leaves Latics looking over their shoulders ahead of Tuesday’s trip to Boston United, followed by Saturday’s journey to Tamworth. They return to Boundary Park on March 11 against Eastleigh before the local derby with Rochdale four days later.

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