This was a game that was influenced greatly by the very windy conditions and the pitch size -- a very scrappy affair where a real lack of quality was the disappointing factor in a very disjointed match.

The Latics were affected when they lost 2 players in the opening half due to injury and another early substitution at the beginning of the second half meant that they had four schoolboys on the pitch for a fair period of the game.

There was a lack of continuity to any of the play as the ball was off the small pitch, more than it was actually on it!

Latics did have more of the play in the first period, but a succession of long throws, free kicks and corners, failed to have any impact as they basically showed a lack of desire to win any headers in the opposition box, a trend which has been all to familiar this season.

Defensively, the Latics looked sound and goalkeeper Josh Ollerenshaw dealt with anything that came his way comfortably and in difficult conditions, his distribution was very good.  The 0-0 half time scoreline says it all.

Playing against the wind in the second half, the Latics actually seemed to be more in control.

Their passing was brighter and movement was much more threatening to the Shrewsbury defence, and it only seemed a matter of time till they scored.

However, due to a succession of near misses and some wayward play in the final third, they didn't open the scoring until the last 15 minutes, when fine play by Chris Rowney released Ryan Brooke to fire home his 8th goal in his last 8 games, to put Latics 1-0 up.

Latics should really have seen the game out comfortably, but they were their own worst enemies as they began giving the ball away cheaply, thus putting themselves under increased Shrewsbury pressure late in the game, and in the last couple of minutes, a long throw in the box, saw Ruairidh Winters untidily challenge the Shrewsbury striker and the referee awarded a penalty kick, which they duly despatched to make the final score 1-1.

It was hard for Coach Tony Philliskirk to make a true assessment of the performance due to all the factors that occurred on the day/injuries/weather/conditions and a pitch that can't have been more than 60 yards wide.

However, he was slightly disappointed with the Latics ability to control the game a little better and their retention of the ball needed to be better at specific moments of the game.

On the positive side, 4 schoolboys played an integral part in the game and it will have given them a great insight to youth team football.