U18s: Bradford City 3 – 5 Oldham Athletic – Saturday 6th February 2016
By Sinead Cunningham
Our u18s fought against the wind and rainy conditions at West County FA on Saturday where we welcomed Oldham Athletic for our third meeting of the season. An eight-goal thriller saw us attempt a comeback with three second-half goals but despite our efforts, we could not match Oldham who came out on top with victory by five goals to three.
The away side dominated the first half, posing a threat from the kick off. Our defence were often caught out but Chandler Hallwood did to keep the scores level by stopping Oldham’s early efforts.
Apart from Niah Payne’s shot that went wide of the post on six minutes, we failed to create chances going forward. The young Latics, on the other hand, broke the deadlock on 22 minutes. A poor clearance allowed them to attack and pass through our defence, giving their forward the time to control the ball and strike into the bottom right-hand corner.
Sumaili Cissa did well to hold the ball and pass the defenders around him but his powerful shot was tipped behind for a corner.
Oldham converted a corner to double their lead just before the break. A looping header found an unmarked player who brought the ball down and thumped the ball past three defenders and Hallwood in goal.
Kesi Omolokun cleared the ball off the line moments later and Hallwood made two good saves to keep the scoreline at 0-2 to the visitors at half time.
We made a positive start to the second half and made it 2-1 on 50 minutes when Reece Webb-Foster scored a great goal from a clever one-two pass with Casey Taglione.
Webb-Foster’s 70th minute strike was deflected behind for a corner but we failed to create from resulting set piece. Less than five minutes later, Oldham scored a third goal when their cross bundled in off trialist Jack Smyth for an own goal.
It seemed the away side had full control of the game when they converted a penalty to score their fourth with ten minutes to go. Sumaili Cissa had the ball intercepted on the halfway line, he tracked the Oldham player back to his box but a silly foul gave the referee no choice but to award a penalty.
Despite trailing 1-4, we reacted well and scored two goals in consecutive minutes to make it 3-4. Good link up play between Payne and Webb-Foster teed up Kesi Omolokun for the first – his 30-yard-strike pinged into the bottom left-hand corner and a minute later it was substitute Casey Taglione who found the net after his shot took a slight deflection.
Our performance improved in the second half however, the comeback goals left us feeling deflated when Oldham sealed the win in the fourth minute of extra time. The initial shot was cleared off the line by Sam Wright however, the rebound found the net to secure the win for the away side.
Next week, we are at home to Burton Albion (Saturday 13th Feb). It will be held at Leeds Trinity University, Brownberrie Ln, Horsforth, Leeds LS18 5HD – 2.00pm k/o (4G).
- Chandler Hallwood (2nd Year)
- Tom Windle (1st Year)
- Sam Wright (U16)
- Kwame Boateng (First Year)
- kesi Omolokun © (Second Year)
- Jack Smyth (Trialist)
- Ville Moilanen (First Year)
- Xander McBurnie (Second Year)
- Reece Webb-Foster (Second Year)
- Sumaili Cissa (Second Year)
- Niah Payne (First Year)
Substitutes
17) Neil Patience (U16)
14) Akeel Francis (Trialist) (11 on 73mins)
15) Casey Taglione (U16) (7 on 45mins)
16) Reece Powell (U16) (8 on 73mins)