Mossley took full advantage of the reprieve awarded due to FC United’s expulsion from the Manchester Premier Cup by battling through to the final with a hard earned 3-2 victory at Radcliffe on Tuesday night.

The Lilywhites once again showed an unchanged starting line up and created the first opening when Max Leonard flashed a volley narrowly wide but it was the hosts who struck first on 18 minutes when Shelton Payne raced onto a through ball to deftly roll the ball past Ollerenshaw and in off the post to edge the hosts in front.

The Lilywhites response was quick and decisive as Abadaki and Richardson worked a move on the right, Richardson’s cross was headed down by Ben Halfacre for Mike Fish to flash a first time shot past Ollie Martin from the edge of the box.

Three minutes later the Lilywhites were ahead. Abadaki’s through ball released Max Leonard who calmly walked the ball around Martin to slot home left footed from a narrow angle.

Mossley were totally dominant at this stage as a couple of good chances went begging before Mossley made it 3-1 seven minutes before the interval. Abadaki’s trickery earned a foul some 22 yards out and up stepped Ben Halfacre to rifle a superb free kick around the defensive wall and into the bottom corner.

Abadaki retired injured at half time with Steve Mason his replacement and the Lilywhites almost grabbed a fourth goal as Halfacre’s effort was well saved by Martin before Radcliffe pulled a goal back as substitute Tunde Owolabi hammered home an angled drive The match then became about game management for the Lilywhites as Radcliffe tried desperately to restore parity.

Mossley showed great character as the pitch started to cut up from the evening’s heavy rain and despite Radcliffe dominating possession continued to create the better chances. Fish came close to extending the lead and great work by Downey saw Leonard inches away from scoring.

At the other end Radcliffe struggled to make headway and created nothing more than half chances as Mossley defended resolutely and ran down the six minutes added time to earn their place in the final where they will now face Curzon Ashton later in the season in the County FA’s showpiece event.

Wiz

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