Preston North End narrowly beat Oldham by 1-0 to make it through to the second round in the Puma Youth Alliance Cup.

The only goal of the game came on 44 minutes following U16 player Sam Hart's right wing corner as Oldham headed the ball into their own net.

Mike Aspin, Nathan Fairhurst, Ray Shearwood and Mark Bloxam played 90 minutes for the reserves on Wednesday night and coach Jamie Hoyland wanted to rest all four but could not because of injuries to Dominic Collins and Michael Conchie (hamstring), Ciaron Barton (groin) and Matty Mainwaring (flu).

Bloxam was made captain for the first time this season and brightly talked the lads through the game. Hoyland was pleased: "Mark did exactly what I wanted him to do, he dominated in there, won his headers and got people around him going as well."

Bloxam himself said: "I think I did alright and I enjoyed being captain.

"We got off to a slow start and should have kept the ball better but their keeper made a couple of good saves and a couple of chances we just wasted. But I think we deserved the win.

"For a large period of time we kept the ball better and we didn't really let them get any crosses into the box and shots on our goal.

"I don't know why we didn't get the ball in but maybe that's something we could train on."

Indeed Preston started slowly, whereas Oldham created a lot of chances.

The guests had a great ten-minute spell after a quarter of an hour, producing five goalscoring attempts. Ross Thaker's volley hit the bar and KC Owen's low shot landed only inches outside PNE keeper Jack Cudworth's right post.

However, North End should have scored when Arran McCarthy went one-on-one with Oldham's goalie Josh Bell but he denied Arran the goal.

With only one minute from the interval, Oldham scored an own goal. The Manchester side had a good chance to equalise straight after but Cudworth stretched and tipped the ball out.

Some would say PNE were lucky to be 1-0 ahead at half-time as the team performance was somewhat below normal expectations.

The Lilywhites stepped up a gear in the second half and so did their guests, but on the hour Oldham's KC Owen had a mental collapse and headbutted PNE's right back Tom McMahon. He was red carded straight away.

Preston made a few good forward runs through Danny Mayor and Bloxam but the team did not pass the ball enough.

Mike Aspin came on after 78 minutes and enforced the simplicity of passing. He sped away down his right lane and played the ball at the feet of Tom Smyth but the striker's finish went straight into the hands of Bell.

Aspin later had a go himself alongside Mayor, Ash Higgins and Adam Barton but they were all off target. Oldham also created a couple of chances but the score remained 1-0 to PNE.

Coach Hoyland summarised the game: "We could had been out of it in the first 20 minutes or so but they didn't take their chances so after 25 minutes we came back into it a little bit. Although they played numerous crosses into the box, we certainly had the most clear cut chance in the first half."

At half time he suggested the lads should add more desire to their game and demanded: "Willingness to win rather than just turning up on Saturday morning for a game of football."

The fact that Preston did not take more advantage of Oldham's ten men did not worry the gaffer at all: "I'm not looking for them to go and win the game just because they [Oldham] are down to ten men. Sometimes that's not easy to play against.

"We just asked them to try and keep the ball and keep it moving, which I thought we did in spells but the players still made the wrong decisions wanting to score the goals at times.

"I asked them to keep the ball to make the openings and when we actually did do it Mike Aspin set it back for Tom Smyth. That's exactly what I want them to do.

"We beat Oldham 5-0 the other week and obviously there's a lot of changes in my side from that and I think they have strengthened theirs to play against us."

Mark Bloxam was man of the match but Phil Appiah and young Sam Hart was also a cut above the rest. Aspin only had twelve minutes on the pitch but still managed to make an impact.

Hoyland added: "Mike Aspin and Nathan Fairhurst were magnificent in the week for the reserves and that's why I rested them today but I put 'Mikey' on because it's his 18th birthday so I thought he wanted to score a goal. As soon as he came on he was full of endeavour and enthusiasm, and he looks a very good footballer."

Preston North End: Jack Cudworth, Tom McMahon, Mark Bloxam, Ray Shearwood, Chris Rogers, Danny Mayor, Phil Appiah, Adam Barton, Sam Hart (Mike Aspin 78), Ash Higgins, Arran McCarthy (Tom Smyth 73). Unused subs: Nathan Fairhurst, Chris Thompson.

By Frida Larsson