Sheffield v Mossley

Mossley eventually moved into the First Qualifying round of the FA Cup after edging past Sheffield in a somewhat dissappointing game at Seel Park.

The match kicked off fifteen minutes late due to the delayed arrival of the visitors but to be bluntly honest that quarter of an hour contained just as much football as most of the first half did. Sheffield were more than happy to just defend in numbers and Mossley struggled to fashion any sort of openings. Like the first game Mossley won a succession of corners but once again Sheffields overtly physical approach to defending them meant that nothing came of them. The first notable effort on goal came after 20 minutes when Phil Denney's looping header from the edge of the box scraped the top of Bonnington's bar. Karl Vernon then embarked on a box-to-box run upfield with the ball which ended with the Sheffield keeper stopping an effort from Chris Downey.

Despite his goal being under constant pressure Bonnington was almost as underworked as Lee Bracey who didn't have one serious effort to save in the entire ninety minutes. The closest the visitors came to troubling the scoreline was when Tevendale fired wide from an acute angle after beating the back line. Peter Smith should have also put the visitors ahead when a set-piece manouevre by the home side when horribly wrong allowing Sheffield to break quickly. Happily for the home side though he snatched at his opportunity sending the ball careering into the stand.

The second half played out in much the same way with the Lilywhite's struggling to break down a team that looked like it had set its heart on a penalty shoot-out. With twenty minutes to go though Mossley won yet another corner and, in an exact carbon copy of the first goal in the previous game, Rhodri Giggs pulled off his marker at the near post and glanced his header across the face of the goal and in at the far post. It was deja vu but I'm sure somebody has already said that before.

With the prospect of penalties having diminished somewhat Sheffield were forced out of their defensive shell and the game suddenly opened up. Mossley started to create more opporunities and the closest they came to increasing the lead was when Melford Knight just couldn't quite get his head to an inch perfect cross by Steven Sheil. The pressure of having spent the majority of the game defending appeared to have drained Sheffield and their efforts at gaining the equaliser grew increasingly tired looking, as did some of their tackling which ranged from late to three weeks last Thursday.

The final whistle signalled Mossley's passage to the next round and a trip to Armthorpe Welfare. It might not have been a job well done but nevertheless it was a job done and after the euphoria of the opening day win against Ossett Albion its proof that the machine that is Mossley 05/06 is not well oiled just yet.