 He left Chester after making exactly 100 Football League appearances for them in three and a half years, when he bagged 16 goals – an impressive strike rate for a central defender thanks to his penalty taking and ability to head in set-pieces.Holden continued to impress at Wigan and this led to a transfer to Oldham Athletic in January 1989.Despite spending several years at Boundary Park, Holden played just 22 league games due to his ongoing injury problems and had to watch on from the sidelines as his teammates played in the top-flight from 1991 to 1994 and reached the Littlewoods Cup final in 1990.