A little over 48 hours after bowing out of the F.A. Trophy , Mossley's brief flirtations with this season's cup competitions continued in an eerily similar fashion at Chadderton's Broadway Stadium.
From the moment the match kicked off Mossley were rarely out of the home sides half but, for the second game running, they couldn't convert that pressure into goals.
What few chances they did create in the opening period were, in the main, shots from distance and almost exclusively via the left boot of Michael Fish. Following a couple of early efforts that were never going to trouble the scoreline, he saw one shot headed off the line by Davis and a 20 yard daisy cutter roll inches past the wrong side of the post.
Yet it was the home side, on a rare outing from occupied territory, that had the best chance to take the lead eight minutes before the break. The Mossley defence stopped when the linesman raised his flag to signal an offside but the referee waved play on, declaring that the offending player was inactive, leaving Mickey Green with a one-on-one with Ashley Connor; a show down that the Lilywhites keeper won with a smart save.
Seven minutes after half-time Mossley were once again bemoaning the positional sense of Davies when he cleared off the line for the second time in the game and within the space of 60 seconds, he and his team mates were celebrating as the visitors gifted them the goal that would ultimately win them the game. Picking up a long clearance, James Riordan hit a back pass that caught Ashley Connor by surprise, not least the velocity of it, and both could only watch as the ball continued on its trajectory towards the back of the net.
Mossley had the opportunity to make the Oldham side's lead a short one when Paul Garvey was sent crashing to the floor in the penalty area by Davies. Responsibilty for the kick fell to Martin Allison and he became the latest in an ever growing line of victims of Mossley's penalty curse; keeper Lee Swanson diving low to his right to keep out both the spot kick out and his side's slender lead intact.
There was still over a third of the game remaining for Mossley to rescue the result but despite spending 95% of it entrenched in their opponents half, all they had to show for it was a solitary shot from Lee Connor that was deflected narrowly wide.
All in all, another match to forget for the Lilywhites.
Report by SJNR
