The Latics revamped side came away from bottom-club Stockport County with a useful three points on Tuesday night. Dean Brill was replaced with Darryl Flahavan in goal and he was soon brought into action and proved his worth with several match winning saves. He did his cause for a sustained spell in the first team no harm whatsoever. Joe Jacobson, Danny Whitaker and Keigan Parker all lost their places as Paul Black and Dean Furman returned to the team while on-loan Lewis Guy made his debut as striker. Guy was responsible for winning the penalty from which Pawel Abbott scored the match-winner. Manager Dave Penney said, “It wasn't a pitch when we could get the ball down, pass and keep the ball wide and make Stockport chase us because it was a lively surface.”
Playing most of the game against ten men after Swailes was sent off, the consensus amongst the fans was that the Latics played too defensively. Instead of building on the lead they dangerously sat back to defend the 1-0 but fortunately they managed to hold out for the win but Stockport could have easily snatched a goal back had they not squandered their chances. The Latics only came to life in the last ten minutes after Tom Eaves came on to replace Abbott. Eaves was a breath of fresh air and caused no end of trouble with his tireless running. He was a constant threat to County and had he been given more time he could have opened his scoring account. It's time that some of the youngsters were blooded now and given an extended run in the first team as they are eager to please judging from the performance of Eaves.