Mossley romped to a comfortable 4-1 win over old rivals Clitheroe in their final home game of the season at Seel Park on Saturday with all the goals coming in the first half.

The teams were still feeling each other out when the Lilywhites opened the scoring on 9 minutes. Some great work by Mike Fish on the edge of the visitors box and he slipped the ball between the central defenders for Tom Pratt to nip at pace and slot Mossley ahead from eight yards out.

Mossley began to dictate and Rio Ahmadi had a header cleared off the line while Clitheroe survived a goalmouth scramble after Ahmadi and Fish had caused havoc in the Blues box.

At the other end Clitheroe had their first chance but Mullen fired over the bar when well placed at the far post.

The livewire Pratt turned provider for Mossley's second goal on 33 minutes when his right wing run and pass set up Andy Keogh who coolly scored from ten yards.

Mossley looked home and dry already at this point but were rocked moments later when Liam Flynn dived to block Walker's powerful drive and Ross Dent reacted quickest to the rebound to halve quickly the deficit and give the visitors some hope of a comeback.

Ahmadi was unlucky not to add to the lead when his effort was blocked before at the other end Flynn made a great save to deny Walker.

The game was 'put to bed' when Mossley scored twice in the closing moments of the first half. First Tom Pratt was hauled down in the box by Mullen and Mike Fish stepped up to hammer home his third penalty in the last five games as the clock hit 45 minutes then, in stoppage time Rio Ahmadi nipped through a defensive gap to add a fourth as he clipped a looping shot from the edge of the box that gave Jacovlevs no chance.

With the game apparently won Mossley made two half time changes with Charlie Anderson replacing Danny McDonnell and Sam Robinson replacing Ahmadi.

The second half was ruined as a spectacle by some inconsistent and over reactive refereeing by Mr Carratt who dished out cards like confetti and awarded free kick after free kick, mostly in the visitors favour.

Some nice work by Fish and Keogh saw Anderson volley over the bar while at the other end Gonzales headed narrowly over the bar following a neat Clitheroe move.

Mossley almost added a fifth as Robinson was denied by a last ditch tackle. Josh Granite hit the inside of the left hand post following a Mossley corner and Tom Pratt was denied by a great save by Jacovlevs.

The game's most controversial incident came with ten minutes remaining. John Bennett had just failed to score when he got on the end of a great move involving Robinson and Pratt. As Bennett was leaving the penalty area Jacovlevs decided to take a quick goal kick and the ball hit Bennett on the back while he was retreating from the box. The referee clearly didn't see the incident but inexplicably produced a second yellow card for Bennett followed by the inevitable red. Bizarre!

Tom Pratt had Mossley's last chance but he was again denied by a fine Jacovlevs save and then in the last minute Flynn did well to tip over a good shot by Lynch as Mossley rounded off the home season with a comfortable and often impressive performance and victory.

Wiz

Smiffy's pics

Andy Keogh slots home the second goal