Steve Holland looked almost shell-shocked at full time of an extraordinary FA Youth Cup tie at Boundary Park last night.
Crewe Alexandra's Academy Manager has watched the game change direction on more occasions than he'd cared to remember during the first half, with the Alex trailing 1-0, leading 2-1, trailing 3-2, before eventually managing a 5-3 triumph on a pulsating evening.
"It was certainly an interesting game!" Steve told Crewe Alex World
"And it will be an interesting project to go through the match video and pick out all the mistakes that we made so we can work on them in the future."
Oldham took an early lead in a half which saw the two sides share six goals before reaching the interval on level terms.
"In the first half we started by causing them a lot of problems with Amari (Morgan-Smith) and Nick (Farquharson) up front, who looked too strong and powerful for them (Oldham).
"But they were causing problems too with their system, which saw the front three interchanging all the time. We were all at sea holding them and were making lots of mistakes as a result, which saw us go 1-0 down.
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Farquharson - "Outstanding all evening"
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"But we were still causing problems and went 2-1 up, but as a result of the problems we were having at the back we conceded twice more before Nick scored a great lob before half-time to make it 3-3.
"So the only thing we really talked about at the break was getting the defending right. We've defended quite well in the youth team this season, but that wasn't evident in the first half. So we went man for man, so everybody knew their jobs, and in the second half we continued to cause problems, but Oldham didn't.
"When we finally went 5-3 up it was the first time that we were almost able to relax."
With Amari Morgan-Smith going off injured in the first period, added pressure was applied to Nick Farquharson to hold the play and cause problems for the hosts, and Steve was full of praise for both him, and Amari's replacement AJ Leitch-Smith.
"The bonuses of the night wereundoubtedly Nick and AJ," Steve said
"I thought Nick was outstanding all night. That wasn't just because of the threat he carried to the opposition, but also in his combination play which was excellent.
"AJ was also a bonus. Although we know he has talent, I have never seen produced at that level. The goal he scored was a great goal. He waited for the ball to drop from the cross and hit a sweet volley right off his laces.
"He made a significant impact on the game and that is full credit to him."
Full Post Match Reaction with Steve Holland can be found now on Crewe Alex World
