Mossley recovered from a poor first half performance to push promotion favourites Darlington all the way before going down to a narrow 2-1 Seel Park defeat on Saturday in front of a season's best attendance of 423.

With the return of Tom Pratt to Bury and injury to Luke McCarthy Mossley went into the game without wingers and the lack of width created a one dimensional approach that wasn't remedied until the the second half.

The first chance of the game came Mossley's way when Dougie Carroll burst through a gap and appeared to be impeded by a Darlington defender meaning he was unable to get his shot away.

The visitors then began to take a grip on the game and took the lead in the 8th minute. The allegedly Oldham Athletic bound Stephen Thompson finding space to rifle a fine shot into the bottom corner from 25 yards.

Worse was to follow on 13 minutes for Mossley when Amar Purewal clearly fouled Kyle McGonigle in an aerial challenge which saw the powerful midfielder go through to lob the ball over the advancing Russ Saunders to double the Quakers advantage.

Darlington went on to dominate the half with Mossley having to defend stoically. The Lilywhites lost defender Ryan Marley with an ankle injury after he landed awkwardly in making a great block from a Darlington shot with Mark Haslam as Marley's straight replacement.

Mossley came out for the second half on the front foot and for the rest of the game were in the ascendancy, taking the game to their illustrious opponents. However, the Darlington defence was well marshaled by the outstanding Alan White and clear chances for the Lilywhites were limited despite some super approach play while keeper Saunders was far less busy than he had been in the early stages.

Mossley finally halved the arrears on 75 minutes. The Lilywhites won a free kick on the right wing, John Bennett crossed, Andy Keogh flicked on a header and the outstanding left back Louis Horne flashed home a close range header.

It was now all Mossley as the Lilywhites went in search of a previously unlikely looking equaliser. The impressive Dean Warburton was now dominating the central midfield, but chances were still limited as Darlington defended deeper as the game progressed. The hard working Wayne Welbeck going closest with a header but his effort lacked power and the chance was gone.

The visitors hung on with great intent and in the end just about deserved to take the three points, though Mossley can again take much from the game showing that the gap in quality between the top end of the League and mid table is minimal and the Lilywhites showing that they are not a million miles away from being a very good side.

Report by Wizard