Mossley were unfortunate to lose this top of the table Galaxy Football Lancashire League match an experienced physical Bamber Bridge side at Irongate on Saturday afternoon.

The Lilywhites went into the clash without a recognised central striker and midfielder Mike Brickhill filled the gap, performing admirably with pace determination and a high work rate but inevitably without reward.

Playing against the elements in the first half Mossley controlled possession and dominated the home side who were largely dependant on long balls played to their 6' 6" centre forward.

Mossley ought to have had a penalty when Joe Heap was clearly brought down in the box but the referee waved away appeals.

Tom Clarke switched to centre half after the break replacing the injured Mike Jones and the team switched from 4-5-1 to 4-4-2 with Joe Heap joining Brickhill up top.

The second half sawa more even game with the home side happy to press at set pieces and it was from one of these they grabbed a controversial winning goal. A 70th minute free kick from deep on the left was saved by Nick Ashley and a Brig' forward appeared to kick the ball from his grasp to score from close range.

Mossley thought they had equalised in the dying seconds when a cross from the right was turned goalwards by Brickhill only for the home keeper to make a wonder save tipping the ball away at the last moment and Mossley were denied a share of the spoils that their performance at least merited.

Report by Colin Fielding