Wheeler: Small details were the only difference

Harry Wheeler was proud of his Maidstone players for their efforts against Oldham in the FA Cup. Boss Wheeler felt the Stones matched their League 2 opponents for much of Saturday’s second-round tie. But a mistake by Alex Finney from a free-kick was punished as Peter Clarke gave the Latics a half-time lead. And the visitors added a late second when Chris O’Grady beat Will De Havilland . Wheeler said: “I’m proud of the lads for their effort and their endeavour they showed. We matched them for the majority of the game. “But I’m disappointed because we spoke all week, just take no risks. All the good teams take no risks, they clear their lines, they don’t try and shepherd things out their six-yard box. “All we’ve got to do is clear the ball and we go in 0-0 at halftime. “All the good sides at the top of our league and the ones that progress through, they just clear their lines and it’s something that we echo week by week. I’ve seen the freekick for the goal and it’s not actually a free-kick. “I go on about things but I only go on when they’re actual facts. Look at it yourselves, you’ll see it’s not a free-kick. “But once it is and it’s gone against us, we’ve got to deal with it and it’s only down to us, not the decision of the referee.” Stones were missing five players, including leading scorer and skipper Blair Turgott. That hit their chances of an upset but Wheeler saw a side who kept working hard. He said: “They gave everything. We competed for as long as we could with a depleted squad, with five of them out, but at the same time I said to the lads that got their places, ‘keep your shirt’ and I thought they did today. I thought we competed well. Muldoon hit the bar with an injury-time free-kick from 30 yards.