Satire: you can't beat it. If only the same could be said for Mossley.
Following the Radcliffe game and the double header against Whitby, hopes were high that Mossley could extend their run of improved form against an Ilkeston side that was having a less than impressive run of results at home. And under the bright Derbyshire sunshine things got off to a flying start for the visitors.
Not only did they take the game to their opponents from the kick-off - they swamped them. For five minutes Ilkeston barely got out of their own half as Mossley ran them ragged, particularly down the right hand side where Andy Thackeray and Christian Cooke were having the time of their lives running rings around Ilson's left back. The pressure Mossley were exerting was going to pay off sooner rather than later and at five past three (or dead on the hour depending on which face of the Ilkeston clock you were looking at) they took the lead. A throw-in on the right made its way to Peter Wright and a one-two with Cooke opened the Ilkeston defence allowing the former Chorley man to drill the ball past Ben Scott from 15 yards.
Instead of continuing to push home their advantage after taking the lead, Mossley started to sit deeper and allowed the home team back into a game that, up until that point, they had been mere spectators in. On the quarter of an hour mark a move down the right from the Robins appeared to have fizzled out when a weak cross bobbled its way into the Mossley box. Unfortunately it happened at the precise moment Mossley's rearguard were in the middle of a game of musical statues and Chris Adam reacted quickly to poke the ball home. One apiece and fifteen minutes later worse was to come. From a corner on the right, tall centre half Paul Robinson was allowed two attempts to control the cross on the edge of the six yard box before firing home without anybody in a white shirt putting him under an ounce of pressure. From being one up and controlling the game, we were now one down to a team that seemed even more surprised than us that they were winning.
Thankfully this galvanised Mossley back into action and they started to do what they were doing in the first five minutes. Once again the Lilywhites were making great headway down the wings and the attack (now able to play facing the goal rather than with their backs to it in order to bring down long punts from the back) were getting a good deal more to work with. Knight, Burke and Shaw all went close before the Town keeper pulled of an incredible double save to first deny Wright from a free-kick, then Cooke from the rebound. Shaw, Knight and Furnival all went close before the whistle signalling the end of the period blew and as the players trooped off at the break, there appeared to be enough belief that not only could a point be salvaged but that the three points were there for the taking.
'What a difference a day makes/24 little hours' sang someone (possibly Esther Phillips). At Mossley 'a difference' only takes the fifteen minutes from the end of one half to the start of another. The Lilwhite's side that entered the New Manor Ground dressing rooms at the interval didn't reappear in the second half, though sadly the one that played at home to Matlock and Guiseley did. Instead of continuing from where we'd left off we were once again back in our shells, defending deep with Wright and Burke having to make do with whatever scraps they could fashion from the long balls being continually pumped up towards them. Occasionally we'd get the ball out to our two wide men who'd terrorised the Ilkeston full-backs in the first half but never often enough to put the home defence under any real sustained spell of pressure.
We did win a good number of corners and free-kicks around the Ilkeston box but apart from one effort by SAS that saw Scott produce another phenomenal save to tip a looping header over the bar, there was little to raise the excitement levels amongst the unusually muted travelling support. At the far end of the pitch the home side were making heavy work of the possession being afforded to them and it was only in the last quarter of the game that they started to take advantage of it.
Danny Trueman was forced into making two good saves before the move of the game saw Ilkeston thread a series of 10-12 passes together that opened up Mossley's right hand side, only for the final man to screw his shot wide when he should have at least hit the target. Another move was brought to a crashing and illegal halt in the penalty area by Nicky Thompson; his blushes spared as the resultant penalty hammered against the cross bar.
With time running out Mossley's caution to the wind moment came... and then went. Rather than add some height to the attack in order to cope with the long balls being thumped forward, Steve Burke (who along with Peter Wright is reasonably good in the air) was replaced by Rob Edwards and Joe Shaw was pushed up to take the ex-Bury man's place - an attacker for a midfielder. 'Why not put one of the centre halves up front?' was just one of the few things mentioned at this point that can be repeated on a 12 certificate blog. Having said that most, if not all, of the travelling faithful had resigned themselves to the inevitable by that point.
A Jekyll and Hyde performance, defeat from the jaws of victory, a tale of two halves, more questions than answers... pick any cliche you want; they're all good and applicable. After looking like things were finally turning around we suddenly find ourselves almost back at square one and a few unfortunate injuries away from what could be a real crisis due to a lack of bodies.
The news of the departures of Bingham and Bowker that broke midway through the first half certainly had a deflating effect on the supporters but the second half performance punctured it big style. I can't remember ever being at a game where there was so much disinterest in what going on out on the pitch from the Mossley supporters as there was in the second half yesterday. Even during the midst of being beaten heavily we've always managed to mine the dark sense of humour that runs beneath the terraces we stand on: a real 'have a laugh come what may' attitude. But it was more than noticeable by its absence in Derbyshire. If it's dispiriting for us to watch, how bad must it be for the players who were giving their opponents the game of their lives in the first half, only to be starved of the ball in the second?
Hopefully Tuesday will see us repeat the form we showed in the opening and closing stages of the first half yesterday, only this time stretched to encompass the whole ninety minutes. The previous few games have shown we can do it so let's start again.
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