Presumably the dismissal was for dissent.  Young had taken up the case of Adam Mather as the players disappeared down the tunnel after Mather was yellow carded after the half-time whistle.  Clearly, Young was over-zealous with his arguments, and he has dissent in his locker, but was a red card really the appropriate sanction or would a yellow have done?  Surely a referee must consider that in issuing the red card he is spoiling the match as a contest for over 400 people in the crowd?  Because that’s exactly what it did.

 The first 45 minutes had been closely fought, with FC United holding the lead thanks to a 19th minute goal from Jake Cottrell.  All the bounces of the ball fell the visitor’s way as a Ben Richardson sliding interception only deflected the ball behind Mather at full back allowing McGrath to run pick it up with a run towards goal.  Whilst McGrath’s ball into the box was blocked, it fell to the edge of the area to Cottrell who smashed a low drive past Pearson.

Prior to that, Kayde Coppin had forced a pair of good saves out of Spencer in the FC goal whilst the home keeper Pearson had saved well, diving full length when Norton had been gifted a free header in the area.  It had been an even game, and remained so until the break.

As well as Young, Mossley had lost his central defensive partner, Kiel O’Brien, to injury just before half time, so the back line was all change for the second half, with a 3-5-1 formation employed.  However, they would have to absorb plenty of pressure, and that pressure told on 58 minutes, although the goal was a touch of quality.

Jason Gorton had fouled 25 yards out, in the central area, and Nicky Platt stepped up and curled a delicious free kick around the wall and into the corner of the net.  Mossley could have had 12 men on the pitch and they wouldn’t have stopped it.

From there, the visitors were content to close out the game rather and chances became fewer.  However, on 73 minutes Platt’s chipped shot hit the top of the bar and over.  It took the introduction of the FC United substitutes for them to really push to press home their advantage, with Cedric Krou and Chris Amadi seemingly looking to prove a point.

Amadi set up the third with some tricky work in the box before working the ball out to Birch on the edge of the area, and he drilled a lovely and unstoppable shot into the net.  It was a quality effort, spoiled by the FC player’s unnecessary and silly gestures towards the Mossley fans.

In the dying minutes, Kayde Coppin did net for Mossley, after Spencer came to the edge of the area to clear but only succeeded in diverting into the striker’s path.  He swept the ball home, but it was too late to revitalise a contest that had been ended behind the scenes where no-one who had paid to watch what happens could see.

Report by Johnathan Haggart

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