Trafford 4 Oldham Borough 1 (From Messenger Newspapers)

Trafford 4 Oldham Borough 1

10:35am Wednesday 17th October 2012 in Trafford Sport

TRAFFORD won through to the second round of the Manchester Premier Cup on Tuesday night against a spirited Oldham side with Garry Vaughan’s youngsters rather flattered by the 4-1 scoreline.

The home side controlled the opening stages without troubling Oldham keeper Tom Elford and it was the North West Counties League outfit who created the best two chances when Sam Freakes blasted in a shot from 25 yards that Tom Read pushed behind and James Curley dispossessed Nia Bayunu but slipped with just Read to beat.

Kamahl Whight, Martyn Andrews and Michael Oates all fired wide as Trafford pushed forward and young winger Luke Heron struck a stinging volley that Elford finger-tipped around the post.

Trafford took the lead on the stroke of half-time when Nia Bayunu flicked on a right wing corner and Steve Mason arrived to power a header into the roof of the net.

Oldham came out for the second half determined to wipe out that lead and Lee Knowles twice went close in the space of a minute. James Curley then squandered a great chance of an equaliser when he broke clear on the left before Steve Mason struck again in the 65th minute, and against the run of play, with a powerful header into the bottom corner following another right wing corner.

Two minutes later it looked like game-over when Luke Heron curled a delightful free kick over the defensive wall and into the bottom corner to make it 3-0 but Oldham responded immediately with Curley turning brilliantly on the edge of the penalty area and advancing to slot the ball past Read.

Knowles then rifled a drive just over, Curley appealed in vain for a penalty before Oldham substitute Richmond Botchey was sent off in the 82nd minute for a high and reckless challenge on Martyn Andrews.

Trafford midfielder Will Ahern was then carried off following another over zealous tackle before substitute Danny Shannon completed the scoring in the dying seconds when he outpaced the Oldham defence and fired past the advancing Elford.