A solitary goal from Matty Kay proved to be enough to earn Mossley their fourth consecutive victory in a fixture that wasn't as close as maybe the score line suggests.

Considering the Lilywhites recent tendency for clinching wins with virtually the last kick of the match, this particular game winning goal came at the relatively early time of the 18th minute. A long punt upfield by Peter Collinge was gifted to Kay by a Borough centre half and after taking one touch to control the ball, the Mossley midfielder unleashed a drive from 25 yards that flashed past Lloyd Rigby in the home sides goal and into the bottom left hand corner of the net.

Even at this youthful stage of the game it was no more than the visitors deserved for the pressure they were putting their hosts under. The only thing that stops that period of pressure being labelled as constant was a moment in the 9th minute in which Ben Wharton, a former Mossley trialist, crashed a shot against the crossbar following a mazy run towards the edge of the visitors box.

After going a goal behind Radcliffe began to struggle to contain their opponents attacks and it was a task made all the harder just before the half hour when Ben Manning was shown a red card for an horrifically late two footed lunge on Ben Richardson. It was an atrocious challenge and one that could have easily cast an extremely dark and disturbing cloud over proceedings had the Mossley wing back not had the leg which was clattered into off the ground.

In an attempt to press home their advantage and capitalise on the disorganisation in the Borough defence caused by the dismissal, Mossley mounted attack after attack in search of the goal or goals that would seal the win. Steven Moore brought an excellent save of Rigby with a stinging thirty yard shot and then saw another effort bounce off the upright. His strike partner Chris McDonagh went close to doubling the lead with an angled drive, as did Lee Blackshaw and Kay again, while Andy Russell's point blank header from a corner looped over the crossbar after hitting a motionless and somewhat stunned Rigby in the face.

Mossley continued to press forward after the interval with both Russell and Blackshaw again narrowly failing to add to the lead. The longer the game wore on though , the more the visitors became content to sit back and defend the advantage they held; the consequence of which being that Radcliffe began to enjoy a greater share of possession as they pushed forward in search of an equaliser. The solidity of the Lilywhites back line however meant that Borough's attempts to salvage something out of the game were confined to pot shots from a distance that never troubled Collinge.

While the margin of victory may not accurately reflect Mossley's hold on the game, the three points gained from this latest success does move them a step closer to a top ten spot in the league – something which I doubt many, including the most ardent Lilywhites fans, would have thought possible given the position the club was in a little over a month ago.

Report by SJNR