Oldham Athletic’s Youth Team have the chance to go three points clear at the top of the league table this Saturday when they take on Mansfield Town.
The young Blues are currently level on points with the Stags, but are ahead on goal difference in the EFL Youth Alliance North East Division.
Last time out, Tony Philliskirk’s lads suffered a blow when they were beaten 2-1 by bottom of the league Lincoln City U18s, ending Latics’ 10 game winning streak in the process.
Since then, the manager and team have had some time to reflect on the result, Philliskirk spoke exclusively to Latics Player HD and said: “We had a weekend off last weekend with no game which gave me chance to say ‘go on, go away and have a few days break’ and since they’ve been back in on training on Monday, they’ve looked really lively.
“It is a big game but I don’t want to put too much emphasis on that because we could beat them and still it’s only three points. We’d be three points ahead of them but we’ve got another five games after that, four of which are away, all really tough games.
“We’ve got a really tough run in, I don’t want to overplay the game, the fact that it’s first verses second it will be very competitive.”
Saturday’s game against Mansfield Town takes place at Chapel Road and kicks off at midday.