Under 12's. Away v AFC Oldham
Result - Reddish North End 5 AFC Oldham 1
An outstanding performance which led to an outstanding result is the simple way to sum up today’s game. The boys played an almost faultless hour and were in total control for virtually the entire match. Everyone was absolutely delighted and rightly so!
This was only our third away trip of the season, and a jaunt up the Ashton Road to Oldham is never likely to feature in the AA’s ‘Scenic Britain’ book, let’s put it that way. Neither, I would wager, is Snipe Clough. That’s not the name of the Oldham manager, lest you think me a tad unkind, Snipe Clough is the name of the venue for today’s match, and what a godforsaken patch of earth! It’s thought that this was a site rejected as a film location for the remake of ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ because it was too eerie.
Certainly as the fog swirled around, blocking out a valiant attempt by the sun to appear, it would have been no surprise to see the Hound itself sweep through the gloaming, phosphorous jaws and all! However, I was more concerned with the state of the pitch, looking like an allotment, and truly the worst I have ever seen at this level. It was frozen in patches, with large, rutted muddy puddles at several spots down the centre, and I wouldn’t have been at all surprised if the ref called the match off. However he seemed happy enough so away we went.
With less than a minute gone our lads pressed the Oldham goalie into action, followed this up with several more probes into the Oldham box, and then saw Jamie get on the end of another fast attack to put us ahead.
Or so I thought! The goal was mysteriously disallowed – I’m not sure Sherlock Holmes himself could have got to the bottom of why – but the inevitable wasn’t long in coming as Michael finished another pacey piece of interplay with a brilliant low shot into the far corner.
Shortly after this Callum B sprung the offside trap and shot clinically for 2-0. We kept any Oldham attacks at arms length and turned round well pleased with a superb effort on such a bitterly cold day.
We started again just as brightly, three efforts at goal in the first five minutes. Unfortunately we then had a forgettable few moments, being caught on the right hand side and not dealing with the ensuing through ball which saw Oldham get one back. But the boys never once wavered, continued to control possession, and time and again sprung the Oldham defence. There were several offside decisions that went against us, but as these things go, we went 3-1 up from what looked to me an offside position. Daniel kept his composure to squeeze the ball home, and the ref indicated that an Oldham player had touched the ball before Daniel scored.
Michael then capitalised on a scuffed clearance to rifle in another excellent goal – he does that so well – and to cap it off, Sam got a thoroughly deserved goal right at the end to underline another great performance from him. So well done boys! Yet again you have done yourselves, your parents, and the whole club proud. Three away games and we’ve scored five times in each match! What wouldn’t we give for a repeat in our next away match - Clayton Villa!!
Daniel was nominated man of the match for a fantastic all-round game, but Callum B and Sam could easily have got the nod on another day. Mark made another excellent contribution as well, recovering very quickly from the nasty injury in training which saw him leave that session in an ambulance! Josh was solid at the back, Callum W did what little he had to do with great efficiency, and all the other boys played their part.
We were due to play Oldham again next week but they are requesting a postponement with the league (as each club is permitted to do once a season) due to having too many players unavailable. So watch this space. On Dec 13th we travel to runaway leaders Clayton Villa and are away again on the 20th at Brendon Bees.
Scorers: Michael (2) Callun B (1) Daniel (1) Sam (1)
Man of the match: Daniel