Boss Steven Schumacher was happy with a good night’s work as his re-shuffled team completed a 100 per cent record in the group stage of the Vertu Trophy and kept the Whites rolling on, _writes Pete Oliver_.
Schumacher made 11 changes to his starting line-up but still saw Wanderers brush aside League Two Oldham with five second-half goals to complete [a thumping 6-2 win.](https://www.bwfc.co.uk/news/trophy-report-oldham-athletic-2-wanderers-6)
The Whites have now won five games in a row and 10 of their last 13 fixtures in all competitions as they rubber-stamped top spot in Group E and a home draw in the first knock-out round on an action-packed night at Boundary Park.
“It did have everything, but the most important thing is that we've got the win,” said Schumacher. “We said we wanted to do that. We wanted to try and keep momentum going and we wanted to get young players on the pitch.
“We wanted to get players a lot of minutes, the ones who haven't played loads lately, and we did all of that so, in the end, it was a good night.
“I just said to the players at half-time that even though we were in control of the first half we were a bit slow and we could up it a couple of gears really. We just said, look, let's kill the game off as early as we can in the second half and then we can make the changes and, thankfully, that happened.
“We knew we'd won the group so it could have been easy for us not to take this game seriously tonight and put in a poor performance. We didn't want that. As I say, the performance in the first half was okay, but not as good as we can be, but in the second half we showed what we were about a little bit more and killed the game off and now we look forward to the next round, whoever we get.
“It's good when you win. The fans enjoyed it. Again, loads of them here tonight and they will have been pleased to see that and it keeps that belief going and the squad keeps everybody ticking along nicely.
“We’ve got a break next weekend but next time we go against Bradford we'll be ready and we'll be prepared for it. The players should be going in full of confidence and everybody is giving food for thought, which is great. That's what I want.”
Wanderers had five different players on the scoresheet after Aaron Morley had missed a first-half penalty, with Marcus Forss (two), John McAtee and Sam Dalby adding to Jordi Osei-Tutu’s opener.
The fifth came from Toby Ritchie, an 18-year-old youth-team striker, and one of four players making a senior debut on a rain-lashed night.
Schumacher gave first appearances to goalkeeper Nathan Broome and young defender Sean Hogan before sending on Harley Irwin and Bolton fan Ritchie for his big moment – 24 hours before Wanderers’ FA Youth Cup tie at Tranmere Rovers.
The head coach added: “I'm really pleased for the lads who made debuts. Nathan Broome has been training well with us and Sean Hogan, again, an opportunity for him to play.
“I thought he handled himself really well against tough opponents. Both strikers that played against them are physical, so he did great, and all the young lads who came on in the second half to make debuts was brilliant.
“I'm delighted for him (Toby). He's obviously got a big game tomorrow night, so we don't want to give him too many minutes.
“He's a real good lad and everybody in the academy has got a number of good things to say about him. We watched him last week in the Youth Cup and he impressed us and we said we'll try and get him on the pitch tonight if we can and come on, show his qualities.
“He's a confident boy, comes on, makes a great run and gets his goal, so I'm pleased for him. Now he’s got to dry off, get warmed up and get ready to go again tomorrow night.”
**Watch the full post-match interview with the boss on Wanderers TV**