Mossley gave another good account of themselves against higher league opposition before going down 2-1 to Conference club FC Halifax Town at Seel Park on Wednesday evening.

Halifax, a big and direct side, were at near full strength and as one would expect enjoyed the majority of possession and the better of the first half chances.

Halifax's first opportunity came when clever winger Adam Smith found himself in space inside the box but his shot was well blocked by Liam Higginbotham.

Halifax were not treating this fixture lightly and continued to press. Their efforts were rewarded in the 17th minute. Smith whipped in a corner from the right and centre back James Bolton rose highest at the back post to head past the stranded Higginbotham.

Mossley found it difficult to break down a well organised and resilient Halifax defence with attacking moves mostly breaking down in the final third.

The second half also started well for the visitors and they doubled the lead six minutes in. Dan Schofield played through to Richard Peniket who fired home a powerful shot into the far corner from arounf fifteen yards.

Mossley changed almost the entire team as the second half progressed with only keeper Higginbotham and the hard working Daryl Weston playing the entire 90 minutes.

Mossley finally put some good pressure on the Halifax defence and a series of corners were unrewarded. However, Mossley bthought they had scored with 20 minutes remaining when Steve Foster chased down the last defender and nipped in front of keeper Phil Senior to score but was then bizarrely penalised for an alleged foul on the keeper.

Mossley kept plugging away with substitute Tyler Devlin making a real nuisance of himself around the Halifax box. It was Devlin who set up the Mossley goal after good work by Andy Keogh and Brian Matthews. Devlin clipping the ball to his left were Tom Murray found himself in space to rifle home an angled drive.

Mossley had the bit between their teeth at this point and created a couple of further half chances which might have brought them level but it was not to be as the visitors hung on for the win.

Wiz

Smiffy's pics

Andy Keogh gets away from a Halifax defender