Wednesday 2 December 2009
totesport.com League Cup
Oldham Athletic 1 (Esdaile Biney 69)
Bradford City 0
Kick Off: 7.00pm
at Bower Fold

Stalybridge Celtic's Bower Fold ground was the venue for Omar Daley long awaited return from injury as City's reserves fell to a narrow defeat at the hands Oldham Athletic in the totesport.com League Cup.

The loss, due to a second half Laquan Esdaille-Biney goal, was the Bantams first in the group stages of the competition this season.

Daley has been forced to watch from the sidelines since suffering knee ligament damage back in February and his return to action in Bradford City colours will come as a welcome boost for all connected with the club.

The Bantams second string also included two trialists in their lineup against the Latics. Central defender Laurence Gaughan of Sheffield FC and Mike Brickhill of Stalybridge Celtic were handed a chance to impress the watching Stuart McCall.

The match also saw a return from injury from 1st year professional Luke Dean in the second half.

City could have troubled the scorers as early as the 7th minute thanks to quick thinking by Rory Boulding.

After receiving a Louis Horne throw in, Boulding instantly picked out the run of Luke Sharry with a clever flick. Sharry raced into the penalty box and forced Latics keeper Tomas Jones into a smart save with his legs.

Boulding himself got in on the action as he looked to trouble Jones with a fizzing effort from the edge of the area, which the Latics custodian tipped away at full stretch.

From the resulting corner, Jones was again forced into acrobatics to keep out the Bantams, as he superbly pushed away a header from Horne.

The Bantams continued to get the better of the early exchanges against the young Latics as Daley was next to test Jones.

Daley, who had already had a couple of opportunities to stretch his legs, exchanged passes with Boulding before firing a fierce shot across Jones goal which whizzed just wide of danger.

As the half progressed the home side appeared to work themselves into the match as proceedings began to have a more even look about them.

After the initial flurry of chances for the Bantams, goalscoring openings became hard to come by for either side as both teams were guilty of losing possession through sloppy play.

With less than ten minutes of the first period remaining the returning Daley was booked for tugging back Djeny Bembo-Leta after the Jamaican had been warned earlier for a rash challenge.

City finished the half the stronger as Boulding collected a Horne through ball, before firing just over from inside the Oldham area.

Daley's return to action only lasted 45 minutes, as he was substituted at half time for apprentice Curtis Collantine.

Matthew Clarke's troublesome back seemed to hamper the defenders movement in the first period and he was also removed at the interval. This did however, allow 1st professional Luke Dean to make his first appearance of the season after being plagued by an ankle injury for the early part of the campaign.

In the start of the second period, Jon McLaughlin was forced into his first meaningful save of the match as he palmed a Tom Eaves effort into the side netting.

Oldham continued to look threatening in the half's early exchanges and were in fact the side that managed to break the deadlock.

A Oldham corner was able to make its way all the way to the far post, where Laquan Esdaille Biney was on hand to side foot home from close range.

Nathan Clarke tried to respond for the Bantams, but he could only send his effort skywards after showing some good enterprise to work himself the opening.

City nearly scored from a corner of their own as Horne set a flashing header narrowly wide from a City set-piece.

The half saw further half chances for Rory Boulding and Nathan Clarke, though Oldham also went close through Eaves and Bembo-Leta.

David Wetherall tried to freshen things up as he brought on Ryan Harrison for fellow scholar Nathan Clarke.

Harrison immediately found himself in the action as a long Collantine cross fell into his path. The Bantams youngster managed to get a snap shot away, but couldn't connect properly and Jones was able to save at the second attempt.

In injury time Rory Boulding forced Jones into a smart save down to his right, but Oldham hung on to edge a tight match.

OLDHAM ATHLETIC	BRADFORD CITY
1 Tomas Jones	1. Jon McLaughlin
2 Phillip Ojapah	2. Phil Cutler
3 Rene Steer	3. Louis Horne
4 Chris Rowney	4. Luke Sharry
5 Ferenc Fodor	5. Laurence Gaughan
6 Laquan Esdaile Biney	6. Matthew Clarke
7 Atilla Beszterczei	7. Omar Daley
8 Will McCall	8. Rory Carson
9 Tom Eaves	9. Nathan Clarke
10 Djeny Bembo-Leta	10. Rory Boulding
11 Phillip McGrath	11. Mike Brickhill
Substitutes:	Substitutes:
12 Matthew Carr	12. Luke Dean for 6 (46)
13 Josh Ollerenshaw	13. Matthew Convey
14 Richard Cowen	14. Curtis Collantine for 7 (46)
15 Nicky Zaicevs	15 Ryan Harrison for 9 (82)
16 David Mellor for 7 (65)	16. Oliver Forsyth

MATCH OFFICIALS:
Referee	D Handley
Assistant Referee	M D'Aguilar
Assistant Referee	N Day
Fourth Official	P Wilsox

GOALSCORERS:
OLDHAM ATHLETIC	BRADFORD CITY
Esdaille-Bilney (60)