Away v AFC Oldham

Result - Reddish North End 4 AFC Oldham 1

Team coach (James) views on the game:

A superb win in very trying circumstances left everybody absolutely delighted today, and all the players deserve full credit for a convincing victory. This was a game that we fancied our chances in, as Oldham were only a point ahead of us after having had a similarly difficult time so far this season, and the team rose to the challenge magnificently.

They do say the coldest winter in the North West is a summer in Oldham, so going up in mid November is a dead cert for leaden grey skies, strong breeze and drizzly rain. Captain Callum Nightingale correctly chose to kick into the fairly stiff wind first half, with the game being reffed by an AFC Oldham parent (our nominated ref had cried off) on a pitch with no visible markings (we had cones marking the touchlines, can you believe). It is fair to say that Oldham got the benefit of several offside calls in the first half, one of which led to them equalising, which was extremely disappointing, but crucially the team kept their heads up. Even the ref couldn’t fail to give us a penalty for a blatant trip on Jamie which Michael slotted away coolly to give us the lead (despite being made to take the kick from around 15 yards), and had Jake not fluffed a tap in after another swift break, and if Michael had shot an inch lower from another attack we would have been further ahead. One superb full stretch save by Callum (who put in a great performance) kept us level at half time, again an offside going unpenalised as Oldham broke forward.

With the wind behind us in the second half we got many more chances to attack after withstanding early pressure, and our pace on the break proved too much for Oldham. The class Michael showed in scoring three more goals was outstanding, he was head & shoulders man of the match. Aaron & Charlotte set him up for goals 3 & 4 with superb passes, which was also good to see. We hit the post & bar in the second half, Jake was inches away from tapping in after a great break from Jamie, Daniel fired just wide, and their keeper made a couple of decent stops, so all in all a brilliant performance. We certainly didn’t notice the weather as we trooped back to the car park, and it was wonderful to see smiling faces all round.

James (Coach) with Michael receiving the match ball for his 4 goals