Wrexham U18 1-0 Oldham Athletic
Tanya Blakey

Despite the result, this was a very good performance by a really young Latics team against a very strong Wrexham team who lead the table at the moment.

From the beginning of the game, the young Latics competed very well against the older Wrexham players and were really unfortunate not to go ahead when a fine Ryan Brooke header from a Phillip McGrath cross hit the underside of the bar, bounced on the line and came back out.

It must be said that the Latics seemed to be getting the rough end of the stick where refereeing decisions were concerned and towards the end of the first half, they fell behind when a left wing cross was headed home powerfully by the Wrexham striker.

Latics were denied what looked to be a very good penalty shout for handball and then amazingly Wrexham went straight up the other end and when Laquan Esadille blocked shot (the ball striking his shoulder) the referee awarded a penalty for Wrexham.  Fortunately for Latics, justice seemed to be done when the penalty was missed.

The second half was probably one of the Latics best performances of the season where the young defence kept a strong Wrexham attack at bay, their midfield began ot dominate play and the forward line were causing problems whenever they broke to attack. 

Once again, their finishing proved to be their Achilles heel when numerous chances went abegging, but this didn't detract from the excellent play that led up to the chances that were being created.

Unfortunately, for Latics the referee failed ot award them a spot kick in the very last minute when Phillip McGrath was blatantly brought down in the box buy the Wrexham full back, the only person at the game not to see it as a penalty was the referee!  This summed up his performance!

If there is a way to lose a game, this was it.  At the end of the game, Latics had numerous schoolboys on the pitch and first year trainees, and they had totally dominated the majority of the match, even the Wrexham staff said that Latics were the best young team they'd played this season.

The coaching staff were very pleased with all aspects of the team's performance.