The Oldham Athletic youth team drew 2-2 with Sunderland youth team yesterday.
Tony Philliskirk’s men made the long trip up north and got off to a perfect start when Callum Scullion converted from inside the box to give them the lead after two minutes.
One quickly became two as Chinedu Uche looped a header past the Sunderland goalkeeper to give Philliskirk’s men a further advantage.
Latics controlled the game and maybe should have extended their lead before half time.
However, Sunderland started the second half strongly and on 50 minutes pulled a goal back.
Four minutes later, the home side had wiped out Latics’ half time advantage and pulled the scores back to 2-2.
Sunderland looked the more likely team to get the winning goal, however, the defence stood firm and they held out for a draw.
Speaking about the game, youth team boss Philliskirk said: “It was a very good performance from the lads but being brutally honest we should have won the game.
“We scored two early goals and then their goalkeeper made some good saves and we missed a few chances so we could have been out of sight.
“They had chances as well but I felt like we were the more likely side to go on and get more goals.
"We missed a great chance to make it 3-0 at the start of the second half and 30 seconds later they had the ball in the back of the net to make it 2-1.
"It changed the whole outlook on the game but to be fair to Sunderland, they came back into the game in the second half. They were better than us in the second half but we were better than them in the first.
“They got the equaliser and at the end you thought there was only one team who would go on to win this but we did well to hold out.
“It was a fantastic experience for us to pit our wits against a category one academy who have fantastic facilities.
“It was a long trip, it took us two and a half hours to get there and then we got straight off the coach and played the game.
"All in all it was a great experience for the boys but they should take great confidence from that because for 60 minutes we looked the better team. There were a lot of positives for me to take.
“We are in a good place at the moment, the lads are playing with a little bit of confidence, they look fit hopefully we are going to peak at the right time for the start of the season."