Oldham Athletic 1 Newcastle United 2

Last updated : 03 August 2002 By The Chairman

Athletic entertained Newcastle United in a friendly but were a goal down in the first minute. Haining conceded a freekick and Quinn drove the ball at Miskelly who pushed it out and in the goalmouth melee which followed Ameobi headed the opener.

It was 0-2 after 10 minutes when Clint Hill scored an own goal after a defensive mix up. The Latics pulled one back through Josh Low (pictured), making his first team debut, after 20 minutes following a good run and a one-two in the area. Athletic could have equalised after half an hour but as Andrews raced onto a long ball he chipped his shot over Karelse in the Newcastle goal and unfortunately over the bar as well.

Another chance fell to Wayne Andrews just on half time but he blazed his effort over the bar from close range. Lourenco and Low both made good impressions in an exciting first half.

Newcastle started the stronger in the second half and missed a couple of early chances before Haining watched his header come back off the crossbar. In the 60th. minute the ball fell to Pondeljak who forced Karelse into a diving save. Minutes later the referee asked the Newcastle bench to replace Griffin after a hard tackle on Darren Sheridan.

In the 70th. minute Wayne Gill replaced Pondeljak and with a quarter of an hour to go Ben Smith replaced Griffin. Ten minutes from the end Cort had a golden opportunity to score the Magpie’s third goal but he was too casual and Miskelly made easy work of his effort. Athletic take on Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday at Boundary Park.