Slade blasts match officials

Leyton Orient boss Russell Slade criticised the refereeing after his side went down to a 2-0 defeat at Oldham in League One on Saturday.

Slade insisted Oldham's vital first goal, scored by Matt Derbyshire 13 minutes from time, should have been disallowed for handball.

Derbyshire controlled a Cliff Byrne flick-on and hooked in from two yards, and in-form Oldham doubled their lead six minutes later when Jose Baxter turned on the edge of the box and curled his shot into the top corner.

But a furious Slade felt let down by referee Scott Duncan at Boundary Park, and said: "We were excellent for 77 minutes against a very good Oldham side.

"We kept an excellent defensive shape, we worked very hard and it was a blatant handball for their first goal.

"He controlled the ball with his arm before volleying in, so it really, really hurts. We were comfortable up to that point - it's an illegal goal and it ain't right.

"We would have liked to create a bit more up front, but Oldham were the home side and they didn't create an awful lot either.

"The effort of our players was unbelievable and they ran themselves into the ground.

"I know Oldham got a second, but that's not the point because the first goal was crucial.

"The positive thing is that we did a really good job as the away side and we've got a squad who can bounce back from this."

Oldham manager Paul Dickov vowed to keep hold of frontman Baxter, whose Boundary Park contract expires in January.

The 20-year-old ex-Everton starlet - who refused a new deal at Goodison in order to pursue first-team football - is being tracked by a host of clubs.

Dickov said: "Jose is just a very good footballer. He's top class.

"People are bound to be looking at him because of the quality he has - and you could see that in the goal he scored - but he loves it here and we'll do everything we can to keep him.

"We've got some very good players here, like Jose, Matt Derbyshire, Lee Croft and Cristian Montano.

"As a team we are doing really well at the moment, but three weeks ago people had us down for relegation so we have to keep a lid on things.

"I don't know whether our first goal was handball, but nobody can say we didn't deserve all three points.

"This game was a banana skin after the good results we've had against Preston and Sheffield United, but the lads' attitude was fantastic.

"Leyton Orient came to stifle us a bit, but we had talked beforehand about staying patient.

"You don't have to win games in the first five minutes and I'm delighted with the way we kept going and going."