Having led the League table throughout the first half of the season Mossley would have hoped to kick off the new year with a win but instead found themselves on the wrong end of a heavy reverse against one of their main promotion rivals.

The Mossley players had avoided too much celebrating on new years eve but in the opening half it was difficult to tell as a horribly sluggish start saw the off-key Lilywhites two goals down in just 12 minutes and three behind by the interval.

New Mills started on the front foot, closing space down quickly and looking to deliver early into the Mossley box. The tactic paid early dividends in the 8th minute as the Mossley defence failed to deal with a high ball, keeper Martin Pearson was called on to make a save that shouldn't have been necessary and perhaps taken by surprise, the usually reliable Mossley custodian fumbled leaving ex Mossley player Daryl Weston with an easy close range tap-in.

New Mills continued to force the pace as Mossley struggled to get any kind of foothold in the game and the visitors doubled their lead in the 12th minute when Danny Grimshaw tee'ed himself up for a shot from almost 30 yards that flew past Pearson at high speed into the top corner of the net.

Mossley simply couldn't affect the game as the visitors caused panic in the Mossley defence on several occasions while the best Mossley could muster was a long range effort by Lewis Nightingale which debutant Millers keeper Russ Saunders saved easily.

New Mills rubbed salt in Mossley's already opened wounds on 33 minutes when they added a controversial third. Chris Rowney appeared to be fouled before the ball was played forward with two New Mills forwards looking every bit off-side. However, the flag stayed down and Millers number 9 Chris Luby clearly used a hand in controlling the ball before hooking a goal that in honestly should never have stood. Having said that it was no less than the hard grafting Millers deserved for a dominant first half display.

Mossley boss Steve Halford chose to trust the same players going into the second half with the visitors now sitting in deeper, but it wasn't until he made a triple substitution on 56 minutes that Mossley showed anything to worry an under worked visitors defence. Sam Hind, Gary Gee and Ryan Hopper replaced Connor Loftus, Chris Rowney and Ash Young and Mossley at last found a bit of form. Hind returning from injury worked the channels tirelessly chasing everything while Gee and Hopper's probing looked more effective than Rowney and Ash Young's had been on this occasion.

Mossley created a number of half chances but it was not to be their day and New Mills stretched the lead to 4-0 in the 66th minute when a long ball over the Mossley defence found Chris Luby and the in form ex Northwich Vics striker calmly clipped the ball over the advancing Pearson.

Mossley went on to dominate the remainder of the match but caused very little consternation for the Derbyshire club and the Lilywhites will need to put this result and performance behind them quickly if they are to hold on to top spot for much longer.

Report by Wizard

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