After two terrible results the Mossley players came up with exactly the right response when beating Prescot Cables 5-0 at Volair Park on Saturday.

Cables opened well against an unsurprisingly nervous looking Lilywhites and Will Jones was forced into a save within the first couple of minutes.

Prescot’s tricky midfielder Jack Phillips was pulling the strings for the home side and he was proving an elusive problem as Cables broke quickly and turned the Mossley defence around several times.

However, as the game settled down it was Mossley’s more controlled approach that began to look the more threatening.

That threat became real in the 21st minute. Andy Keogh’s quick feet step-over saw Ben Cartwright clip him as he made his way into the box from the left and after the referee took a moment to analyse the situation he pointed to the spot. Kyle McGonigle confidently hammered home the penalty.

Prescot’s attacks began to look more hopeful than calculated and right on the stroke of half time the Lilywhites doubled the lead. Tom Pratt’s clever pass set Mike Fish through a gap and his right foot finish gave home keeper Tom Brocklehurst no chance.

It took Fish only two minutes of the second half to score his second as he rose to head home Jordan Bove’s clever chipped cross to more or less end Prescot’s hopes of a strong second half showing.

Mossley were in cruise control, pressing high up the pitch and constantly closing down space leaving Prescot unable to create anything meaningful.

The :Lilywhites fourth goal arrived on 65 minutes. A spell of Mossley pressure saw Jordan Bove clipped by a defender as he was about to shoot and a second penalty was awarded. Man of the match Fish took the gauntlet to secure the 'perfect' hat-trick stroking the ball home left footed from the spot to give Mossley an unassailable lead.

All three Mossley substitutes were entered into the fray within the space of a few minutes and all three showed up well in the closing stages. Javan Benjamin coming closest to scoring with his powerful drive well saved by Brocklehurst.

Mossley scored the fifth and final goal of the game in the 85th minute when Andy Keogh went on a mazy dribble in the Prescot box, flummoxing several Prescot defenders before finishing calmly in the bottom corner to complete the rout.

Mossley bosses Band and Morrison demanded a big response by the players and got what they asked for with an impressive hard grafting performance by the players and a well deserved three points.

Wiz