Mossley's injury ravaged young-guns crashed out of the FA Trophy at Bridlington on Tuesday night. With only 12 fit players, Chris Downey and Tony Coyne being the latest additions to an ever growing injury list, the Lilywhites were always going to be 'up against it' on the east coast against Premier Division opposition.
Mossley made the worst possible start, falling behind after only three minutes, when John Hore was caught in possession inside his own box and the ball was crossed for Paul Wilson to score with a looping overhead volley.
Mossley were chasing shadows in the early stages and Bridlington went two up on 22 minutes when Paul Palmer took advantage as Steve Sheil went down with a head injury after colliding with keeper Ashley Timms.
Then on 34 minutes a simple through ball from half way severed Mossley's back line and Darren Fell nipped in to make it 3-0 and effectively wrap the result up with barely a third of the game gone.
All credit to Mossley's youngsters though as they finally found that their passing game could make inroads into Bridlington's experienced defence and Adam Morning raced down the left wing and his perfect cross was powerfully headed home by Jordan Goodeve in the 38th minute.
Mossley, suddenly lifted, applied pressure on the home defence for the remainder of the half and had they found a way through at that stage a dramatic comeback may have been on the cards. However, Brid' clung on 'til the interval and made absolutely sure of victory in the 62nd minute when Palmer scored his second after a neat move down the left.
Mossley kept playing football but it was Bridlington who continued to carve the clearer openings and Sheil twice cleared off the line to prevent further damage.
With leading scorers Chris Downey and Leon Mike both out of action Mossley's strikeforce was somewhat light weight while at the back Dave Brown, carrying a neck injury and still less than fully match fit left the defence in a less than solid state. New keeper Timms generally flapped at everything and looked a much poorer keeper than on Saturday!