Mossley crashed out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle for the fourth successive season in heartbreaking fashion at Seel Park on Tuesday night going down 2-1 to Evo-stik League rivals Burscough.

The defeat was compounded by injuries to Charlie Anderson, Ryan Barrow and Andy Keogh and the fact that both Burscough goals on the night were very preventable and again, as has been the case on numerous occasions this season, came directly as a result of individual errors and missed chances at the other end.

The effort and commitment to the cause by the Lilywhites players could not be faulted but it was far from a classic Mossley performance as passes went astray and mistakes were made to give the visitors the impetus they needed to seal victory.

Mossley opened brightly as Dean Warburton brought a fine save out of Burscough keeper Tim Horn and Mossley looked comfortable and confident throughout the opening half without creating many clear openings as the visitors defended stoutly despite the probings of Messrs Bryant, Pratt, Matthews and Keogh.

Burscough’s best chance of the opening half came when Williams burst through a gap but Ash Frith did well to block his effort.

Daryl Weston replaced Charlie Anderson who twisted a knee on 23 minutes but Mossley were value for their lead which came on 39 minutes. Flicks forward by Keogh and Bryant saw Tom Pratt race through to power home a fine finish from the edge of the box.

The Lilywhites were denied a clear penalty when Ryan handled Tom Pratt’s cross as Mossley finished the half in the ascendancy.

However, the second half started badly for Mossley and just three minutes after the restart the visitors were level. Josh Granite miscued a clearance which ended with Liam Caddick skipping outside of his marker and slotting home in the far corner.

The visitors then enjoyed their best spell of the game, keeping the ball well and feeding the lively Caddick at every opportunity but as the second half wore on Mossley regained the upper hand might have won the game within 90 minutes. Andy Keogh rattled a powerful effort against the bar before limping off soon after to be replaced by debutant Ollie Devenney and in the final minute Burscough survived a wild goalmouth scramble which saw Pratt hit the post and Bryant have an effort blocked on the line before Horn saved Devenney’s shot and so to extra time.

The first half of the extra 30 minutes passed without incident but the killer goal came five minutes after the break. Burscough won a corner on the left and Mossley, despite three attempts to clear failed to get the ball to safety and centre back Nick Ryan was able to find the space required to blast the ball home through a crowded Mossley box.

The Lilywhites huffed and puffed through the final ten minutes of extra time. Brian Matthews fired narrowly wide and saw a low cross drift across the front of an open goal with no-one able to get a final touch and the visitors were able to run the clock down without any real further threat and a tired and dejected Mossley side trooped from the field at the end of a gruelling cup tie as Burscough celebrated their advance to the next round and a home tie against Curzon Ashton.

Wiz

Smiffy's pics

Tom Pratt scores Mossley's goal