Yet again on Tuesday night fortune favoured the opposition as Mossley fell victim to a smash and grab raid by play off outsiders Cammell Laird at Seel Park.

Mossley, desperate to get their season back on track following some recent negative results, opened brightly with Danny Broadbent firing narrowly wide with a shot from the edge of the box.

Lairds first attack saw Evans fire over the bar from a great position before Broadbent again went close when following a scramble he hit the outside of the post from a narrow angle. The same player then brought the best out of Lairds keeper Lee Atherton who acrobatically turned his powerful shot away for a fruitless corner.

Liards had caused very few problems for the Mossley rearguard when they took a shock 36th minute lead. A long ball from the back found big centre forward Henders who held the ball up well before playing in left winger Joe Holt, who stepped inside his marker before slotting into the far corner.

Worse was to come when Holt scored a second on 43 minutes when he ran onto Henders flick to score in the same corner from what looked a clearly off-side position.

Mossley had the ball in the net a minute before the break when Broadbent volleyed home but the referee spotted a mystery offence and disallowed what looked a perfectly good goal.

Mossley came out of the blocks well in the second half but were hit by the loss of skipper Jay Gorton who was injured whilst shooting narrowly wide from the edge of the box.

Gorton’s replacement Sam Madeley was quickly in the action and reduced the arrears on 54 minutes when he fired home from 15 yards after good work by Coppin and Hind.

Mossley pressed hard but without reward but were dealt yet another blow on 62 minutes when Gary Gee was alleged to have fouled John Couch and the referee awarded what looked a soft penalty. Jamie Henders sent Saunders the wrong way with his spot kick.

Mossley huffed and puffed throughout the remainder of the game but couldn’t pull the score-line back to parity despite their increasingly frantic efforts.

Atherton saved well to deny Dave Young from a free kick and Steve Halford looped a header just over the bar as Mossley applied late pressure but to no avail.

Results elsewhere meant that Mossley stay in touch with the play off chasing group but results now need to improve as a matter of great urgency.

Report by Wizard

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