Oldham Athletic’s exit from the FA Trophy was met with mixed emotions?

Naturally, after leading a League One side until the last seconds of regular time, the first of those occurred after extra time. However, considering the result in the northeast, it was impossible to completely rule out the potential of a psychological blow.

For a team that has not been used to losing, with only two defeats in the National League in 19 games, it was a concern in their quest to stay on the coattails of the leaders, or better still close the gap.

That result at Stockton Town was mitigated, somewhat, by a midweek National League Cup win over Blackburn Rovers Under 21s; redemption for those fringe players who had not been able to give manager Micky Mellon the selection headache he had hoped for at the weekend.

Storm Darragh created elements that were not conducive to attractive football, but even so the performance against Northern Premier League opposition raised question marks about the club’s strength in depth as Stockton dominated the second half, if not the entire game.

It was hard to keep the ball still on the artificial surface, or ensure any long passes reached their intended target amid gale force winds. The hosts managed the conditions much better at the MAP Group UK Stadium, and managed to test goalkeeper Scott Moloney more than Latics tested his opposite number, with the wind assisting them with some early chances as it helped the ball hang up in the air.

Stockton were defensively strong too, Tom Coulthard snuffing out a Latics attack as he cut out Otis Khan’s attempted throughball for Josh Stones, who was restored to the line-up after being ineligible for the FA Cup the weekend before. Joe Garner was denied by the crossbar in the last seconds of first half stoppage time after connecting with a corner.

But Stockton had the wind behind them in the second half and used it to their advantage with a string of early chances.

Moloney made good saves to deny Michael Fowler, after he turned and made space for himself to shoot, and then when Michael Sweet reacted to a rebound. But from the resultant corner Adam Nicholson met Glen Butterworth’s delivery at the far post to convert from close range.

Sweet thought he had added a second soon after, but it was ruled out for offside. But the chances kept coming for the hosts.

Stephen Thompson tried an ambitious 35-yard dipping effort and was not too far off.

Stockton continued to look to kill the game off and secure the biggest win in the club’s history, and did so in the closing stages as Sweet raced down the right, bore down on goal and poked the second home.

Perhaps the only Latics player that will reflect on the occasion with any great fondness was Abubakar Muhammed, a promising youth team player who made his senior debut as a 74th minute replacement for Jesurun Uchegbulam.

But manager Mellon offered his own perspective ahead of a return to National League action this weekend.

“My full focus was on trying to get through this week and be ready for Saturday,” said the Latics boss.

“When we looked at the run we thought ‘we’re coming into a busy and really important spell’, we haven’t really got a massive squad to be honest, so we just wanted to make sure that we kept everybody who we think that we needed right and then the ones that needed a game, give them a game (in the last two fixtures).

“That (the league) is the important thing, that’s always been my focus, with all respect to both tournaments, and I really mean that.

“We didn’t need any more fixtures, we’re already two behind, so let’s keep going.”