Mossley demolished Garforth on Saturday with a comfortable victory that was never in doubt from the 2nd minute when Sam Madeley opened the scoring.  Garforth were poor, but a team can only beat what is put in front of them, and having been 4 up at half time Mossley took their foot off the gas to save themselves for Tuesday’s top-of-the-table clash with Skelmersdale.

Having lost their entire squad and staff at the end of 2011-12 Garforth are struggling, and it wasn’t long before any hopes of a shock were extinguished by early goals.  In the second minute Sam Madeley passed inside to Adam Mather who in turn passed on to Gary Gee on the left.  Gee seemed to be in on goal, but delayed his shot and the chance appeared to be gone.  However, he fed Madeley at the edge of the area who cut inside onto his left foot and despatched a shot into the right corner of the goal.

4 minutes later it was 2-0 as a free kick on the right was swung in by Chris Rowney and skipper rose highest at the far post to head home and double the lead.

Garforth’s players were comfortable on the ball, but their passing was awry and they weren’t able to get close to the Mossley goal whilst Kayde Copping curled a trio of shots from the edge of the area, two wide, one well saved by the keeper.

On 21 minutes the keeper pulled off another amazing save when Mather did everything right, meeting a cross with a textbook header from 6 yards, downwards to bounce on the line, but Senior did brilliantly to dive and scoop the ball away with his hand.

The third goal came on 29 minutes from a corner, this time Jay Gorton the man jumping highest to power a header in.  10 minutes later it was four, in a frenetic attack where Gorton hit a post, Halford header brilliantly saved again by Senior, only for the ball to fall to Halford who could square it to Madeley for a tap in.

It ought to have been five by the break when Coppin was brought down by Greenhalgh when heading into the box having been but clear by Mather.  However, Coppin’s penalty was a stinker, and Senior was able to save to his left.  Meanwhile Greenhalgh was already in the dressing room having been, quite harshly, shown a red card for the foul.

Garforth had hit the post and bar in the first half – it could have been about 8-2 to Mossley – and they tried to catch Mossley on the hop early in the second half but Moke shot over the angle.   There was plenty of spirit in the home side, but quality was lacking, and it was soon 5-0, as Madeley completed his hat trick in the 52nd minute.
Gee played the ball left to Coppin who drove into the box, drew the keeper to the near post and square the ball for Madeley for another tap in.

More chances came, as Senor excelled again saving a Gorton swivelled shot, Haslam hit the side netting and Rowney should have scored when played in by Haslam but hit it wide.

However the half dozen was signalled with 10 minutes to go when Coppin passed to Gee 18 yards out and with a side-foot he placed it into the top corner.  However most importantly the team had been able to relax in preparation for Tuesday’s big game, which looks likely to be a cracker.

Report by Jonathan Haggart