WHAT probably ranks as one of the youngest sides fielded by Blackburn Rovers at Pontin's League level, earned a deserved point against Oldham at Stalybridge last night.

Oldham too fielded a team comprised mainly of younger players and the result was a hard-fought, competitive game which could have gone either way.

Rovers snatched a seventh-minute lead when James Beattie pounced on a loose ball, following a corner, to smash home his fourth goal in three days. But Oldham were level on 18 minutes when Darren Beckford rose at the far post to score with a clinical header.

There were chances for both teams, with Bobby Mimms making two excellent saves, and both James Thomas and Damien Duff, as well as Beattie, going close.

Wayne Gill and Thomas Morgan did well in midfield and the back four had to battle hard but looked solid.

Rovers: Mimms, Hitchen, Coughlan, Reed, Tallon, Johnson, Gill, Morgan, Duff, Beattie, Thomas.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.