Last season Chadderton were the team that ensured Mossley's participation in the Manchester Premier Cup would go no further than the first round. Made up mainly on the night of reserves and fringe players, the Oldham based side sent a strong Lilywhites eleven crashing out of the competition with a 1 – 0 defeat.

Therefore when both sides were drawn to play one another again at the same stage of the contest this season, there were a few who feared that lightning could strike twice. Fortunately, one year on from that cold and memorable for all the wrong reasons night at the Broadway ground, there was to be no repeat of that highly embarrassing exit.

Injuries and numerous non-availabilities meant that Mossley had a slightly unfamiliar look to their line-up going into this game. If it upset the rhythm and dynamics of the team in anyway it certainly wasn't noticeable as straight from the kick-off Mossley carried on from where they'd left off against Rossendale in the previous game – pushing their opponents back towards their own goal through some good attacking football.

Despite dominating possession and spending roughly 75% of the opening period camped in the half Chadderton were defending, Mossley just couldn't turn their advantage into goals. That's not to say that they weren't having plenty of attempts – they were, the problem was that they were keeping the ball boy busier than Lee Swanson in the Chaddy goal.

After the interval though the Lilywhites finally began to make Swanson work, not least when he had to make a superb finger tip save to push a dipping drive by Ryan Cook onto the crossbar. His heroics however proved to have been somewhat in vain as less than a minute later, and from the resultant corner, he was having to pick the ball out of his net; David Brooke finally giving Mossley the lead they deserved with a header from close range.

Midway through the half Chadderton enjoyed a brief spell where they went close on a couple of occasions to causing the home side a few problems, but any hopes they may have had of prolonging the match by taking it into extra-time were swept away with twelve minutes of the game remaining.

Their failure to deal with a dangerous cross from Scott Holt resulted in a loose ball rolling into the path of Nick Challinor, and the Mossley left back finished a move he'd started by dispatching it through a crowd of players to put his side two up.

It was Holt himself who made the final score line one more reflective of the game by heading home a deep cross from Kristian Bowden in the last minute of the match.

There's no denying that this fixture was a potential banana skin for Mossley but thankfully, unlike last year, it's one that they skilfully managed to sidestep.

report by SJNR

Scott Holt gets in a shot         pic by Aaron Flanagan

Lee Blackshaw skips over a tackle            pic by Smiffy

Mitch Bailey keeps his eyes on the ball        pic by Aaron Flanagan          

Danny Egan has support from Holt       pic by Aaron Flanagan

Simon Wood and Graham Kay defend well      pic by Aaron Flanagan

Danny Egan gets up well              pic by Aaron Flanagan

Mossley keep the pressure on                 pic by Aaron Flanagan

Dave Brooke works hard             pic by Smiffy

Scott Holt stoops to head the third goal             pic by Smiffy