LET’S take a moment to examine the facts before laying into the shortcomings of defeat at 10-man Oldham Athletic.

At time of writing, Wanderers have a healthy four-point gap on third place with three games remaining. Two wins will see them return to the Championship.

They are within touching distance of securing promotion at the first time of asking and have done all this in a transfer embargo, without spending a penny on transfer fees.

Seven of the starting line-up at Boundary Park had suffered relegation from the Championship, a campaign which pound-for-pound was among the worst in the club’s long and illustrious history. And yet here they stand, reputation rebuilt, ready to add a positive chapter into the record books.

There are many reasons to be proud of Wanderers’ work over the first 43 games of a season which has helped the club mend a lot of broken bridges with their supporters and ensure if they do make a return to the second tier they do so in a stronger and more unified position.

None of the above will make the result at Boundary Park any easier to swallow, particularly for the 4,300 who had paid for their ticket expecting the first leg of a promotion party.

The facts of an ugly game show Wanderers had 13 attempts on goal but forced Latics keeper Conor Ripley into just one meaningful save. Sure, the crossbar denied them twice. On two more occasions some impressively dogged Oldham defending blocked shots on or near the goal-line.

Calmer heads were needed when Latics striker Michael Ngoo saw red with nearly half an hour left to play. Instead, the frantic finish played into the home side’s hands, enabled them to break for the winner, stall for time, and claim three points which effectively guarantees them League One football next season. Whether they have done the same to Wanderers remains to be seen.

Naturally, fans have looked for reasons. Many have settled on a starting line-up which contained only one striker – Adam Le Fondre. Parkinson has struggled to find a suitable line-up all season without the services of Gary Madine and various substitutes – Conor Wilkinson, Max Clayton and Chris Long – have all failed to satisfy in one way or another.

The trick to making this plan work was to get his more mobile midfielders, and particularly the goal-hungry Josh Vela, up in support. And there were spells where it worked, to an extent.

Vela, playing his 50th game of the season, combined well with Filipe Morais on the right but all-too-often there was little for the wide man to aim at. Try as he may – and Le Fondre let no-one down for effort – he does not have the penalty box presence of the man sat in the stands, nursing a shoulder injury.

Le Fondre continued to pester Peter Clarke, lingering on the centre-half’s shoulder and hoping something would run for him. But it was a long and fruitless chase, summed up by his late flick from Derik Osede’s daisy-cutter, which bounced off the bar.

Parkinson is doing his level best to depict a calm exterior. He emerged to give a reasoned assessment of the defeat after the final whistle but none of his players were sent out to do the same, which did not exactly portray a feeling of normality to the Bolton fans who will be walking into the Macron tomorrow night.

Much has been made of the park-standard pitch and coupled with a swirling wind at ground level, it made for some pretty dire football.

Jay Spearing was an exception in the first half an hour, exuding calm and dominating midfield until John Sheridan put Paul Green on him to restrict his available space.

Wanderers’ only chances in the first 45 minutes fell to Darren Pratley, for whom not a single thing went right all afternoon.

Morais did test keeper Ripley after a nice move early in the second period but Oldham were also growing into the game – Clarke and Green both driving shots through a crowded penalty box, which were well managed by Mark Howard.

The excellent Conor McLaughlin made a series of important blocks, putting his body on the line to prevent Morais’ far-post cross from dropping over the line and later denying Dorian Dervite and Mark Beevers from closer in.

Ngoo’s second yellow card, given for a senseless challenge on Pratley, should have been the trigger for Wanderers to take hold of the game. Parkinson brought on a second striker in Max Clayton but instead saw gaps start to appear in his own defence.

Lee Erwin wasted one glorious chance before ex-Whites striker Tope Obadeyi drilled a low cross-shot parried by Howard on to Spearing, who could only watch the ball bounce over the line. Erwin claimed a touch – but replays suggest it will go down as an own goal.

Wanderers poured men forward and brought on two more attacking players in James Henry and Chris Long, the latter of which rattled the bar with a thunderous volley late on.

Too much in the last 10 minutes was done more in hope than expectation. It all seemed too reactionary and fuelled the theories Parkinson’s initial approach had been too conservative.

Oldham saw the game out in impressive style, Sheridan’s celebrations at the final whistle in marked contrast to the bowed solemnity in the opposite dugout.

But Wanderers are not done yet. There is no time to dwell on a result, however disappointing, with another challenge coming so quickly on the horizon.

Whether Saturday’s defeat is a key moment in this campaign will only be known in a few weeks’ time. Until then, it’s eyes forward.