Mossley fell to another home defeat this time at the hands of promotion chasers Chorley and again the catalyst was the conceeding of an early goal that left the Lilywhites chasing the game.

It appeared that a rout was on the cards as Chorley set off at a terrific pace the prolific debutant Steve Foster and American Major League soccer star John Cunliffe causing the understrength Mossley lots of problems.

The opening goal came in the 7th minute. A defensive mix up allowed Cunliffe to slide the ball through to the impressive Tom Ince who slotted into the far corner beyond the reach of Peter Collinge.

Mossley's first threat came when Mike Oakes broke down the left and crossed for Chris Hall, but despite a desperate lunge Hall couldn't quite make contact as the ball flashed across the face of the gaping Chorley goal.

It was a miss that Mossley would rue as Steve Flitcroft's chipped through ball freed Foster and the former Salford hit-man scored on his debut with his 27th goal of the season as he chipped Collinge superbly from the edge of the box in the 23rd minute.

Mossley Reserve team skipper Mike Jones replaced Aaron Chalmers at the interval and the young defender gave a confident performance in the second half against the star studdied Chorley forward line.

Mossley hit back two minutes later to halve the arrears when Chris Rowney was bundled over by Chorley keeper Grundy and the referee awarded a penalty but then amazingly failed to produce a card for the keeper who on another day would surely have seen red. Matty Kay crashed home the spot kick for his 15th goal of the season.

Mossley opened the second period in lively fashion and Matty was unlucky not to equalise when his brilliant curling shot hit the bar. However, with an hour on the clock Mossley failed to fully clear a corner and the ball fell to Cunliffe on the right side of the Mossley box and the ex San Jose Earthquakes man fired home brilliantly from a narrow angle to restore the visitors two goal cushion.

Mossley didn't give up and typically battled through to the end with Grundy sdaving well to deny Mike Oates late in the game.

Report by Wizard