OLDHAM ATHLETIC U18 6 (Thaker, Rowney, Edwards, Brooke, Owen, Smith)
Accrington Stanley 0
By Tanya Blakey

A convincing win for Latics, and it was pleasing for them to keep their first clean sheet for a while.

6-0 seems an absolute drubbing, but for the middle period of the game, Accrington were actually still involved in a lot of the action that was taking place, and it wasn't until the final twenty minutes where Latics emphatically ran away with the game.

Latics started the game excellently, they had been working all week in training on quick play and they transformed this very well into the opening 25 minutes of the match.

One and two touch passing and quick movement was hurting the opposition and it came as no surprise when Ryan Brooke and then KC Owen put Latics 2-0 up through fine play down the left-hand side both times.

However, Latics stopped doing the simple things well, players began to take too many touches and Accrington forced their way back into the game and only two fine saves by Josh Bell kept the score 2-0 at half-time.

The interval came at a good time for Latics as this gave Tony Philliskirk the opportunity to reiterate to the players, the need to play at a much higher tempo and to take care of the ball better.

It must be said, credit to Accrington, they continued to drive forward and again, Bell was called into action far too often for the Latics' liking.

However, more fine play down the left hand side by Adam Edwards led to him crossing for Ross Thaker to slide home from close range, to put Latics 3-0 ahead.

This third goal really seemed to take the sting out of the game and gave Latics the confidence to go on and produce their best football of the game.

It also allowed Tony Philliskirk to introduce three more schoolboys to the field of play (Tom Eaves, Luke Smith and Will McCall) for more experience of Youth Team football.

This didn't upset Latics flow at all, as all three were involved in some excellent play which resulted in further goals from Edwards, Rowney and Smith himself smashed home a fine 20-yard strike to put the seal on an excellent victory.

Coach Tony Philliskirk was pleased with the general all-round performance especially the beginning and latter stages of the game where it showed what good concentration, a good first touch and simple passing and movement can do to the opposition.

Hopefully, the young Latics can take these attributes into their upcoming games against stronger opposition.