A dreadful first half performance put paid to any chance Mossley may have had of gaining a positive result from Tuesday night’s trip to mid-table Bamber Bridge.

From a Mossley perspective, that opening 45 minutes was one of misplaced passes, off-side attacks, failed set-pieces and error strewn defending.

Gareth McClelland gave a starting debut to the re-signed Ben Richardson at the expense of Lee Rick in a three man midfield that proved ultimately ineffective against a home side who bi-passed midfield at every opportunity with raking balls down channels for their lively forwards to chase down and it was that rather basic tactic that was Mossley’s undoing.

The homesters had dominated from the off, quicker to the ball and more accurate with distribution while Mossley’s 4-3-3 formation floundered going forward and constantly surrendered possession or where caught off-side as the midfield failed to move the ball quickly enough or play with any real belief.

Bamber Bridge took the lead on 13 minutes when a slip by Keil O’Brien allowed the ever dangerous Alistair Waddecar to find Ryan Salmon for a simple tap in.

The home side doubled their advantage on 25 minutes when Waddecar whipped in a superb cross from the right for Chris Marlow to head home from close range.

Mossley switched to 4-4-2 after the interval and in the first fifteen minutes of half enjoyed their best spell of the game. Abadaki and Coppin both going close to halving the arrears. But, as the half wore on Mossley were unable to sustain the pressure and Brig were able to regain control, creating a number of chances which brought the best out of in form Mossley keeper Martin Pearson.

New loan signing Danny Hudson replaced Neequaye and the lively striker’s pace and movement caused some problems for the Brig defence as he went close on a couple of occasions after creating chances for himself.
Brig’s third and match clinching goal came on 74 minutes as Marlow scored at the second attempt after Pearson had blocked his first effort from a Waddecar right wing corner.

There was no way back for Mossley after the third goal and a minute after making their final substitution, Danny Queeley replacing Kayde Coppin, Mossley were reduced to 10 men as Keil O’Brien was helped from the field with a nasty looking knee injury after an accidental collision with Brig substitute Sefton Gonzales.

It was a disappointing end to a disappointing performance and one that Mossley need to quickly get out of their collective system as the first half performance at least was quite frankly unacceptable!

Report by Wizard