With several players unavailable through suspension and injury along with the midweek departures of Andy Keogh and Ryan Humphreys, Saturday's trip to high flying in-form Farsley was always going to be something of a tall order, and so it proved, as Mossley crashed to a 3-0 defeat which could have been much worse but for an excellent display by Lilywhites keeper Russ Saunders who performed heroics to keep the score to a reasonably respectable level.

The second placed home side wasted no time in setting about mid-table Mossley and were expansive in their approach with skipper Robbie O'Brien pulling the strings from midfield. Crosses and shots rained in on the Mossley goal as the Lilywhites struggled to clear their lines.

It took 15 minutes for Farsley to break the deadlock when Saunders saved well from Aiden Savory only for Adam Priestley to react the quickest to force home the loose ball.

Following more home pressure the lead was doubled on 28 minutes as O'Brien's free kick saw central defender Matt Dempsey force the ball home despite Mossley's desperate attempts to clear.

At the other end Mossley struggled to create anything meaningful despite winning a couple of corners and the Lilywhites were soon back under pressure as Savory had an effort chalked off for off-side after Saunders had saved O'Brien's initial effort.

Mossley were forced into a double change at half time, with the out of sorts Louis Horne and injured Dougie Carroll replaced by rookie defender Tom Dean, signed from Sunday football, and the now 40 years old joint manager Peter Band making his first appearance since early last season joining the fray.

Farsley applied more pressure with Saunders saving well to deny Priestley before Farsley scored their third goal on 60 minutes. A tricky run by Matty James setting up Aiden Savory for a simple tap in.

Mossley then enjoyed their best spell of the match with Nightingale going close with a dipping effort and Richard Bennett seeing his goal-bound effort cleared off the line and Band almost getting on the end of the same player's low cross from the left, but, it was the home side who finished the game in the ascendancy as Saunders was again called into action making another couple of decent saves. Farsley substitute Lee Ellington saw his chipped effort come back off the post before being cleared off the line by Kevin McGrath and Saunders compounded his man of the match display as he again saved well from Ellington in the closing moments.

The Lilywhites are in desperate need of reinforcements with the busy Christmas games coming up and will hope to bring in a couple of new faces before the Boxing Day clash with another in-form team Bamber Bridge.

Report by Wizard