Substitute Jesurun Uchegbulam scored within three minutes of his second half arrival as National League Oldham completed a 2-1 comeback win to dump League Two Tranmere out of the FA Cup.
Uchegbulam’s 61st-minute angled shot was deflected beyond Rovers goalkeeper Luke McGee.
The visitors, twice competition semi-finalists in the 1990s but now fifth in the game’s fifth tier, were good value for victory – masterminded by former Prenton Park boss Micky Mellon.
Another Rovers old boy, James Norwood, put the one-time Premier League outfit back in contention after Connor Jennings 50th goal for the club fired the home side – 19th in League Two – into a ninth-minute lead.
Backed by 2,000 supporters, Oldham hit back six minutes before half-time. Former Stoke and Hull midfielder Sam Clucas, 34, who had already had a debut goal direct from a corner mysteriously disallowed, assisted Norwood’s smartly struck leveller against a team he helped to back-to-back promotions and plundered 92 goals in 180 games for.
After Clucas was replaced, Uchegbulam struck his second goal of the season – and first since the opening day of the season – to send Oldham into the second round for the first time in four years.
