Oldham Athletic Youth 1
Wrexham Youth 1 (3-2 on pens.)
FA Youth Cup (1st Round)

Match Report

The Dragons crashed out of the FA Youth Cup competition in dramatic fashion at Boundary Park as after 120 minutes of almost non-stop, end-to-end action couldn’t separate the two sides Latics’ keeper Josh Bell became the hero of the evening with three saves as his side won 3-2 in a penalty shootout. Although losing in such a fashion is always cruel, the annoying thing for coach Steve Cooper was the inability of his side to make their numerical advantage count in extra time after the 84th minute sending-off of Oldham defender Aaron Chalmers.

After a sluggish opening half the Dragons improved after the break, finished the game strongly, and looked threatening every time they got the ball in the six minutes following Chalmers’ dismissal. But in extra time the home side were never seriously troubled. And it was the performance, particularly in extra time, rather than the defeat that was Steve’s main concern after the game: “While we improved in the second half, our display in the first half cost us the game,” he said. “We gave away a very sloppy goal, which the lads know, and it was down to individual errors, which we had tried to work on in the build up to this game.

“The FA Youth Cup is all about lads playing on the bigger stage, it is similar to if you go and make your first team debut. Therefore you look at individuals and while we did better in the second half, we still missed three or four scoring chances and it has cost us. Yes it's disappointing to go out on penalties, but they can go either way. I have though told the lads that I don't want them thinking that losing on penalties means they have done enough, as over the 120 minutes we have not played well. Especially with Oldham going down to 10-men. We didn't seem to be able to work out how to play with the extra man. We had the extra space and the extra man, but we didn't use it to any great extent or make it tell.”

The game itself, despite George Stewart showing early signs that he had the beating of his marker, saw Oldham out of the starting blocks the fastest. Jack Fitzgerald thumped a shot against the crossbar on 7 minutes but it was only a couple more minutes before they made the breakthrough, the dangerous Liam Dawson beating Maxwell with a crisp left-foot drive from just inside the box that ricocheted off the far post on its way into the net. Oldham seemed to have the edge throughout the first half but perhaps oddly given the way the game was developing, the Dragons still managed to carve out a few openings, though the only time Bell was overly troubled came on 37 minutes when he dived to his left to save a smart curling effort from Mark Stewart.

The Dragons knew they had to improve if they were to get back into the game after the break and this they did with almost immediate effect. Only five minutes had elapsed after the restart when Mark Stewart’s excellent firs touch gave him the half a yard of space he needed to emphatically beat Bell with right-foot shot from the edge of the box that flew past the keeper’s outstretched left hand. Bell then twice denied Mark Stewart as the Dragons sensed victory was there for the taking, and the Oldham defence had a remarkable escape in the 63rd minute when a Lee Jones shot was blocked by the unsuspecting keeper and the central defender then headed the rebound against the post. And only a superb save by Bell low down at his near post denied George Stewart as Wrexham continued to threaten.

Then came Chalmers’ dismissal for a two-footed lunge at Kai Edwards. But the Dragons couldn’t find a winner and, in all truth, didn’t look like they’d find one in extra time. And so it went to penalties. Mark Stewart’s spot kick was saved by Bell and Maxwell saved from Chris Rowney. Lee Jones scored, but Ruairidh Winters made it 1-1. Bell then saved from substitute Obi Anoruo, and Paul Black put Oldham into a 2-1 lead. Johnny Hunt brought it back to 2-2, and goal scorer Dawson sent Maxwell the wrong way to make it 3-2. So Hurdman had to score to keep the tie alive. But Bell stood firm to save, and clinch his side’s place in the second round.