Oldham 4 Leicester U21s 2 – Checkatrade Trophy
Match Report by Graham Tracey
Our Under 21s bowed out of the Checkatrade Trophy in wintry Oldham, having been one of only two junior teams to have made it to the last 16 of the competition. The outcome was disappointing as we had led at half time, only to ship 4 fairly soft goals in 36 second half minutes.
The last time I went to Boundary Park was in 1996 during the Martin O’Neill promotion push. For symmetry, we also lost and it was freezing then. Emile Heskey had just become a first team regular, so would a star of the future be on view tonight?
Remarkably, we fielded a team with 4 players who tasted the Champions League last season – Huth, Musa, Hamer and Barnes. The competition rules probably need changing – at the end hearing the excited chatter of Oldham fans about being two games from Wembley, it is those clubs who deserve the day out and it would be against the purpose of the trophy if a Premiership team made it there.
After an uncertain start, Huth had a good work out against physical opposition. Hamer is probably miffed at his demotion to 3rd choice keeper and walked off at full time without bothering with handshakes.
The saddest sight was Musa, who unlike Barnes hadn’t even been in the squad for Fleetwood the night before. While he kept running and bagged a tap in to make it 2-2 with 20 minutes left, he had no impact and I felt genuinely sorry for him. How can someone go from goals in world cup finals and dribbling through Barcelona in pre-season 18 months ago to being neutralised by third tier players? I guess he was only playing due to his experience of playing in the freezing Russian winter.
On a positive note, we got our first sight of Diabate He didn’t see much of the ball but did show flashes of pace and flair when he did. I like Josh Knight at right-back, he has the physical stature and I would have no problem with him playing for the first team if Simpson and Amartey were both temporarily unavailable.
Two diminutive players in midfield / attack worked hard and impressed – George Thomas who was on the bench at Anfield at Christmas, and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall who I had not heard of before. On tonight’s showing, I was disappointed with Hamza Choudhury and Harvey Barnes, given that they have loan experience at a higher level than Oldham.
As for the actual game, Oldham were on top for most of the first half on a heavy pitch in wind and rain, but we went ahead just before the break when Knight followed up a parried shot. Oldham didn’t seem to have a real cutting edge, so the first goal seemed important. However, out of nothing the Latics scored quickly after the restart – a quick break down the left, and then a dubious handball penalty that was tapped in after Hamer saved the spot kick.
Musa’s equaliser followed from our best move of the match and the team’s celebrations showed this meant something to them. However, two late set piece goals – a corner finding someone unmarked to stab home, and then a free header from a free kick – put paid to the 19 game unbeaten run at this level. Maybe a reflection of the physicality of older players.
Hats off to the dozen Leicester fans who were there. This was only a short drive from my work so I went in the main stand assuming there would be no away end open, but was impressed to see a few faithful there.
CITY: Hamer, Knight, Wood, Huth, Hughes, Diabate, Dewsbury-Hall, Choudhury, Barnes, Thomas, Musa. Subs: Gordon, Eppiah
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation