While Mossley's performances away from home have generally been impressive this season, their home form has been a touch more enigmatic. It's hard to put a finger on as to why this is the case but certainly conceding goals in the manner in which they did in this game certainly doesn't help.
With a little over twenty minutes left, what was nothing more than a hopeful punt from deep within the Skelmerdale half caught Mossley's defence at sixes and sevens and substitute Chris Almond, who'd only been on the pitch a matter of minutes, took full advantage of the space afforded to him to slip the ball under Andy Robertson.
To make matters worse for Mossley it turned out to be the only goal in what was otherwise a very tight game and one in which both sides had spent the majority of it cancelling each other out.
Having said that things did look a trifle ominous for the home side in the opening ten minutes of the fixture; a period of time in which they were almost exclusively confined to their own half. Fortunately their defending was solid and Skelmersdale's highly rated attack were restricted to nothing more than the occasional overly optimistic effort from distance.
After weathering the early storm Mossley started to come into the game more and by the midway point the roles were reversed with Skelmersdale being forced to defend deep. Like their opponents though the Lilywhites were making little headway in converting that possession into an advantage on the score sheet as a combination of a well drilled defence and poor deliveries from the wings and set pieces brought some promising moves to a premature end.
As half-time neared both sides attacks managed to start finding a few cracks in their opponents back lines and after Robertson had been forced into making a fingertip save from Sean McConville, the home side went close when Danny Egan hit the foot of the post and Graham Kay flashed a header narrowly wide of the same upright following a corner.
The second period was even tighter. Chances, even half ones, were non-existent as both sides effectively cancelled one another out and the longer the game wore on, the more it looked like both sides would play out a goalless stalemate. But then came that momentary lapse in the 69th minute and it was effectively game over the Lilywhites.
It shouldn't have been as with almost a quarter of the match left there was still plenty of time for Mossley to rescue at least a point, but by dropping their passing game and resorting to the long ball down the centre of the pitch, the Lilywhites played straight to Skelmersdale's defensive strengths. So instead of Ryan McMahon being forced to endure a torrid time in the closing stages as the Lilywhites went in search of an equaliser, the United goalkeeper was effectively a spectator as his defence soaked up the succession of balls being dropped towards them.
The visitors were denied the opportunity to register what would have been a very flattering scoreline when the referee waved away their appeals for a penalty as the end of the game neared, but the solitary strike from Chris Almond proved to be enough to claim the three points.
January was always going to be a tough month at Seel Park for the Lilywhites with the fixture list throwing them up against Curzon, Lancaster and Skelmersdale in quick succession. And the points tally from these games, one from a possible nine, would appear to bear this out.
The underlying story though is that Mossley's performances in all three games were worthy of more than the single point they attained. However their inability to capitalise on the moments in games when they were on top leaves them now having to wait until February at the earliest before they can finally register their first home win in any competition since October.
report by SJNR
pic by Garry Hadield
pic by Aaron Flanagan
pic by Garry Hadield
pic by Garry Hadield
pic by Garry Hadield
pic by Garry Hadield
pic by Garry Hadield
pic by Garry Hadield
pic by Garry Hadield
pic by Aaron Flanagan
pic by Garry Hadield
pic by Aaron Flanagan
pic by Aaron Flanagan
pic by Garry Hadield
pic by Aaron Flanagan
pic by Aaron Flanagan
pic by Aaron Flanagan
pic by Aaron Flanagan
pic by Aaron Flanagan
pic by Garry Hadield
