Oldham Athletic 2 Manchester City 1
Attilio Lombardo won’t have many senior international’s to choose from for his EDS side this year, but tonight at Boundary park he had them in abundance.
City’s starting line-up included many first team regulars; Joe Hart, Joleon Lescott, James Milner, Gael Clichy, Samir Nasri, Nigel De Jong and the forgotten Roque Santa Cruz all featured in tonight’s defeat to Oldham Athletic.
Paul Dickov’s Oldham athletic got off to a flyer, when Robbie Simpson smashed the ball past a stunned Joe Hart in the opening minutes of the game. The goal, which came from the Latic’s first attack in the game, did shock the Rochdale road stand, but it didn’t disrupt the spirits of the City faithful that had travelled to the game, as they continued to sound out the Oldham crowd for the entire first half.
Ten minutes into the second half,Roque Santa Cruz took the ball round the keeper to put City level again. Roque’s goal meant Lombardo could bring on the EDS lad’s and he quickly went about changing the side.
Facey, Hiwula, Rusnak and Wabara were the stand out EDS player’s for Lombardo tonight. Facey and Wabara started the game and apart from the goal, they were never really troubled by the Oldham strike force. Facey showed signs of a great wing back,making some well-timed runs up field, that troubled the Oldham defence and Wabara showed that what he lacks in experience he makes up for in pace, with some good tracking back. Hiwula will be ruining a golden opportunity to put the blues ahead for the next few days. The young striker struggled to find his feet, when a brilliant though ball from Lawlor left him in on the keeper. Despite not scoring, Hiwula caused a handful of problems for the Latic’s defence in the second half, with his pace and positioning. Hiwula is a player that has really shone in pre-season and I have no doubt he will be a big player for the EDS this season. Another player, who is defiantly going to have a big season for the EDS is Rusnak. When he came on for City tonight he caused many problem’s for the Latic’s. He possesses great dribbling technique as well as great creativity and movement off the ball. Rusnak very nearly scored for the Blues tonight, but his deflected shot bounced off the cross bar.
Unfortunately for the lad’s Oldham snatched a winner in true Paul Dickov time.
Despite defeat there were some promising signs for Lombardo tonight and I am sure the EDS lad’s will have enjoyed the experience.
Bring on the Next Gen series!
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