Luckless Lilywhites slip to another defeat

NPL West: Bootle 3-0 Mossley

Possibly the poorest penalty decision you are ever likely to see set Bootle up for a win on Saturday as Mossley did everything bar score before being hit by two late breakaways as the bereft of luck Lilywhites lost for an eighth successive game.

It was another hard pill to swallow for Mossley, who have now endured their worst successive run of results since the same two months in 2013.

With several players injured and unavailable Mossley included latest addition to the defence Will Hartshorne and he partnered Devon Matthews in the heart of the Mossley back four.

Mossley, desperate to put the difficult run behind them took the game to the home side and generally dominated the game territorially throughout. But a combination of the woodwork, a hatful of other missed chances, Bootle’s debutant ex Mossley keeper and clear man of the match Theo Roberts and that inexplicable refereeing decision combined to deny the Lilywhites the result their performance and overall work-rate deserved.

The hosts opened the scoring in the 53rd minute after being awarded a penalty. Matthews' tackle inside the area was adjudged to have been reckless enough to award a penalty, and Ben Hodgkinson stepped up and converted to give his side the lead.

To their credit and despite a poor run of results, Mossley battled back to find an equaliser and created a number of chances. In the 55th minute, Phillips and Matthews were denied by Roberts in quick succession, before the Bootle shot stopper was called into action to deny Fawns from close range in the 65th minute.

Mossley were left frustrated by the missed opportunities but still continued to pepper the goal. In the dying stages, Roberts saved brilliantly from Morris, Fawns hit the bar from the rebound and Banister fired over the bar from the second rebound. 

However, the Lilywhites' efforts proved to be in vain as in the 90th minute, Morgan Homson-Smith lobbed Jordan Hadlow from 25 yards to put the game beyond doubt.

And to add insult to injury, in the 93rd minute, McGowan forced home a third.