U18s: Oldham Athletic 1 – 2 Bradford City Saturday 19th September 2015

After getting knocked out of the league cup by Oldham three weeks earlier, we knew we would have to be at our best if we were to keep our unbeaten league record intact.

We started the game on the front foot and in the first five minutes had three good chances through Danny Devine, Curtis Peters and Niah Payne. On thirteen minutes it was Oldham who nearly took the lead against the run of play. After conceding a free kick on the edge of our box, George Kenworthy got his finger tips to the ball to tip it wide of the post. After sixteen minutes our dominance finally paid off, after an excellent defence splitting pass by Danny Devine to find Reece Webb-Foster who made no mistakes to net his twelfth goal of the season. Further chances came and went but in the thirty seventh minute we deservedly doubled our lead through Webb-Foster .This time he was found by Xander McBurnie and he lobbed the goalkeeper to take his tally to thirteen for the season. We continued to dominate the half and had further chances but had to settle for a 2-0 advantage at the break. It was probably the best 45 minutes of football we have played this season with our ball retention and chances created.

Oldham clearly stated their intentions by making three changes at half time and it clearly worked. Straight from the kick off they went down the pitch and gained a corner which eventually was cleared. They then had a further chance after working a set piece they had a shot that went narrowly wide. It was then our turn to test the Oldham goalkeeper, after Kesi Omolokun met a corner, and his powerful header was cleared off the line. Oldham continued to throw the ball forward at every opportunity and in the sixty first minute they made the score 2-1, after a cross was met by their striker who climbed high to head home. Further chances came and went but we defended well to see out the game and earn another three points. The performance overall was very pleasing, especially if we had converted the chances that we created, it should have been a far more comfortable score line.

Next week we will be looking to keep our 100% league record intact when we entertain Mansfield Town at Rawdon Meadows -12 noon kick off.