OLDHAM ATHLETIC U18 4 (Dawson, Owen, Rowney, Eaves)
Stockport County U18 3
By Tanya Blakey

A real Jekyll and Hyde performance by the Latics who were, it must be said, very poor in the first half.

The first period saw Stockport dominate all over the pitch and several of the Latics players were very lacklustre in their approach to the game, and the young Latics were basically second best in the first 45 minutes.

Another horrendous goalkeeping mistake led to Stockport taking the lead mid-way through the first half.  It was a relief when the Latics blew this whistle for half-time and the Latics were only 1-0 down!

The interval allowed Coach Tony Philliskirk to spell out a few 'home truths' and the transformation in the second half was amazing, from the kick off they played with much more aggression, tempo, willingness and desire.

Within 15 minutes of the re-start Latics were ahead through well-worked goals from Liam Dawson and KC Owen, and they were threatening to run riot.

However, as has often been the case this season, they were very slack defensively from a corner kick and Stockport equalised when they were allowed a free header.

It must be said however, that Latics' response was good and a well-worked set piece by themselves allowed Chris Rowney to put Latics 3-2 up with 10 minutes to go.

Latics seemed to be holding out very comfortably and threatened to add a fourth, when in the very last minute, the referee inexplicably awarded a penalty kick with one of the harshest hand-ball decisions you would wish to see.

The kick was duly dispatched to make the score 3-3.

Great credit to the young Latics though, as immediately from the re-start, they pushed Stockport back and when an Aaron Chalmers header cleared the Stockport back line, Schoolboy striker, Tom Eaves muscled his way through and coolly lobbed the goalkeeper to finish with aplomb to give the Latics a 4-3 victory.

At the end of the game, Coach Tony Philliskirk could only reiterate to the lads how important it is for them to consistently perform at the level they did in the second half.

Their self-motivational skills to get themselves up for games from the word go, must be improved as too often this season, this scenario has occurred.

He feels the players need to believe in themselves more so they can turn the second half performance into the rule rather than the exception!

However, he was delighted with their response in the second half and the players proved to him that they are more than capable of performing at the level required.