Youngsters come to the fore

Photo: Alan Howarth

TAKE A BOW: Jack Truelove (left), Joe Cooper and Danny Gosset clap Athletic fans at end of Saturday’s game against Leyton Orient.

OLDHAM’s head of youth football Tony Philliskirk has hailed a productive season for the young charges at Boundary Park.

Athletic’s under-18s finished their campaign with an excellent 2-0 win at Walsall in the Football League Youth Alliance North-West Conference.

Goals from Jordan Bove and Haydn Foulds saw off the Saddlers, who were pushing for a second-place finish, in a performance described as “magnificent” by coach Mick Priest.

Philliskirk was busy on first-team duty at Leyton Orient and didn’t catch that particular game.

But manager Lee Johnson’s current right-hand man felt it was in keeping with a season in which the cream of the young talent has been handed a chance to shine on the big stage.

“Our ultimate goal is that players earn professional contracts,” said Philliskirk, after a npower League One campaign which brought debuts for second-year scholars Joe Cooper and Danny Gosset, plus first-years Chris Sutherland and Jack Truelove.

“Four have played in the first team as scholars and who knows, if (goalkeeper) Luke Simpson hadn’t been injured that might even have been five.”

Including substitutes, Athletic had six home-grown players in the matchday squad at Orient, showcasing a talent pool Philliskirk feels it is vital the club makes the most of.

“All in all, if you consider the former youth players who have reinvented themselves recently — like Kirk Millar and David Mellor — plus Glenn Belezika and Carl Winchester, you have to say it has been a very successful season with all of those players proving capable of making that step up and competing,” he added.

“It is vitally important that for a club like ours, we continue to provide that pathway.”