Mossley were denied maximum points at mid table Burscough on Saturday thanks to several missed chances and three horribly wrong refereeing decisions.

The Lilywhites went into the game bereft of the suspended Cavell Coo, the unavailable Lewis Nightingale and injured duo of Kayde Coppin and Sam Hind while Adam Mather returned to the side following his brief injury lay-off. Mossley lining up with a mutable 4-3-3 formation with Sam Madeley leading the attack.

On a damp and windy afternoon, the livewire Madeley was Mossley's biggest culprit for missed chances and on another day could easily have scored a hat-trick. As it was, he was unable to find the target, lacking composure at the crucial moments to see his efforts denied by Burscough keeper Tim Horn.

Mossley had a great chance to score in the first minute as Dave Young mistimed a header when well placed as the Lilywhites opened on the front foot. However, following the early flurry the half petered out somewhat. The home side creating few openings despite some neat approach play.

Mossley were convinced that they had taken the lead on the half hour mark when Linnets keeper Horn clearly carried the ball over his own goal-line whilst collecting a far post cross but play was waved on with the assistant referee poorly positioned some 15 yards up the touchline. Burscough broke straight up field and Mark Haslam was on hand to make a timely goal-line clearance to deny the home side a breakaway goal.

With the wind and slope in the favour in the second half Mossley foraged forward with more purpose and Madeley was denied an early chance when his prodded effort was well saved by Horn.

Soon after, Chris Denham chased the ball to the left touchline, turned and raced into the box outpacing his marker Camozzi who clearly brought Denham down at least three yards inside the box. The whistle blew, penalty! No! Referee Mr Gittins inexplicably awarded Mossley a free kick outside the area despite massed protests from the Mossley players and fans alike. A real refereeing howler!

Mr Gittins and his assistant missed another penalty with around ten minutes left when Quirk clearly handled the ball out for a corner with the stand in referee's assistant (actually Burscough's tanoy man) perfectly placed to give it.

The game became more stretched thereafter with chances and half chances at both ends. Madeley again failed to connect cleanly when put through a gap and Jay Gorton had a goal bound effort deflected over the bar off a defender's foot with the referee again getting it horribly wrong in awarding a goal-kick.

Russ Saunders made a fantastic save to deny Cummins as Burscougth almost snatched a late winner before Horn was again Burscough's hero making a great save to deny Mossley substitute Danny Broadbent with practically the last kick of the game. Frustrating to the maximum!

Report by Wizard