Lilywhites lose out in dying minutes

NPL West: Trafford 2-1 Mossley

Mossley went down to an 88th minute goal to rivals Trafford at a gusty Shawe View on Saturday. A result which sees the home side leapfrog the Lilywhites in the NPL West Division table.

The Lilywhites went into the game without the services of the again unavailable Andy Keogh and the unwell Mason Fawns but on the plus side Levi Phillips was named on the bench after recovering from injury.

The line up also included two debutants. Full backs Ollie Broe and Joe Rothwell who both made promising first appearances.

The wind and bobbly pitch were factors in what wasn’t a great spectacle and there were few memorable moments in what was as always an evenly match contest when Mossley and Trafford meet up. 

A mostly bland and uneventful opening half hour was followed on 35 minutes by the opening goal. Barlow’s deflected shot landed in the path of Mike Burke twelve yards and he fired home to put Trafford ahead.

The game then reverted back to very little up to the half time break, leaving the 462 people in attendance somewhat underwhelmed as the whistle sounded with the Trafford manager no doubt happier than his Mossley counterpart.

However, it took Mossley only five minutes after the restart to restore parity. Bailey Marsden broke on the right and his cross was met by Ollie Broe whose effort came back off the left hand post into the path of Harry Pratt who struck the ball into the ground and up into the roof of the Trafford net.

The game then became more interesting and end to end as chances started to appear. Rooney headed narrowly over for Trafford, Matthews fired narrowly wide for Mossley as the tempo was upped.

Mossley’s possibly best move of the game ended with Pratt firing over the bar while at the other end rookie keeper Brad Kelly made a couple of smart saves to keep the Trafford forwards at bay. Broe fired over the bar for Mossley before Kelly saved well at the feet of Burke as Trafford broke clear.

The substitute appearance of firstly Andreas Bianga for Butterworth and Levi Phillips for Pratt gave Mossley a livelier look and the Lilywhites perhaps looked the more likely winners for a spell but fortune didn’t favour the visitors on this day.

With two minutes left on the clock Matthews conceded a corner on Mossley’s left wing. The near post flag kick was inadvertently flicked on by the unfortunate Bianga and landed to Trafford defender Adam Rooney who bundled the ball into the net from close range.

Stoppage time saw plenty of action as Mossley with great urgency saw Connor Morris only find the side netting. A Trafford break and Kelly made another excellent one-on-one save before last minute Mossley substitute Will Hartshorne headed narrowly wide and the points were lost.

Picture by Martyn Nolan