A Danny Hudson hat trick was enough to take all three points for the Shakers Youth Team at Oldham Athletic on Saturday morning.
Oldham though began the game the brighter of the two sides and put the Shakers rear guard under some pressure in the opening exchanges.Bury defended superbly though and rode their luck at times, but thankfully took some sting out of the game by going ahead after just ten minutes.
A good ball down the side of the Latics back four saw Danny Hudson rise to the challenge, before he calmly took it around the home keeper and rolled the ball into an empty net.
Oldham had a good chance to make it all square with half time five minutes away when a good ball into Bury box actually beat Christian Dibble, but Shaun Mangan threw caution to the wind and threw himself at the ball before it crossed the line, preventing a certain goal and preserving the Shakers lead at the break.
Danny Hudson had a chance to double the Shakers lead just at the start of the second half following some good work from Billy Crawshaw, but as he swung to shoot, he unfortunately got the ball stuck between his feet and the chance was lost.
The lively Shakers striker did get a second goal on 53 minutes however, a positive clearance from Shaun Mangan brought a mistimed challenge from a Latics defender, with the result of completely missing the ball and allowing Hudson to pounce.He showed excellent composure to fire home the second goal of the game.
Oldham put together this best move of the game on the hour with the end result being a shot that crashed back into play off the crossbar, though this time the Bury defence cleared to safety.Within a minute, Danny Hudson had effectively killed the game.A long ball from defence saw him run on and again showed superb composure to lob the keeper to make it 3-0 and seal a well deserved hat trick.
Oldham got back into the game on 72 minutes with a goal mouth scramble in the six yard box.One chance had already been saved by Dibble but an Oldham player fired home the rebound to make it 3-1.
Luke McCarthy should have made it 4 on 78 minutes when he collected a poor back pass, but with an open goal in front of him, he somehow managed to shoot wide from 18 yards.
Oldham grabbed a second goal with ten minutes left to set up a nervous finish for the young Shakers.Danny Hudson, looking for a fourth goal, showed good team play in the dying seconds to lay the ball off to Wade Joyce, but his shot flew over the cross bar.
Overall, an excellent performance from the youth team, which included only four second year scholars and two under 16's from the centre of excellence.All the players showed an excellent attitude throughout the game with Danny Hudson getting a deserved hat trick.
Final Score:Oldham Athletic Youth 2 Bury Youth 3
Bury:Christian Dibble, Tommy Toff, Levi Clarke, Billy Crawshaw, Jordan Melia, Shaun Mangan, Luke McCarthy (Dale Jennings 88), Wade Joyce, Danny Hudson, Dalton McLaughlin, Liam Boswell.
Subs not used:Ryan Howley, Adnan Zubair, Connor Loftus.
