Mossley 1 - 2 Curzon Ashton

There's an oft used cliché in football that goes "it's a game of two halves". This match however gave it an interesting new twist being "a game of a third and two thirds"; the smaller fraction sadly representing the time Mossley were in the ascendancy before Curzon started to dictate the game.

As much as it pains me to put this (is there a writing equivalent of speaking through gritted teeth?) Curzon were deserved winners but, just like the previous match at Garforth, it was Mossley that started the brighter of the two teams.

In the 16th minute the home side got the goal their early endeavour deserved when a lazy back pass was pounced on by Kitson Gayle. The Mossley forward then showed great composure in taking the ball around the Curzon keeper before wheeling away in celebration of his first goal for the club.

Kitson Gayle celebrates as the ball heads towards the back of the net.

Worsley then fired a warning shot across Mossley's bow (or rather the face of the goal) for the visitors as they struggled to get back into a game that slowly seemed to be slipping away from them. And with 25 minutes on the clock the Lilywhite's could, and possibly should, have inched the points available from the game further away from Curzon's grasp. Kitson Gayle robbed substitute Byrne of the ball on the halfway line and launched a counter attack that saw white shirts vastly outnumber the blue ones. The ball quickly made its way to Paul Quinn on the edge of the box but the winger snatched at his shot, sending it looping wide of a relieved Curzon keeper's goal.

Gayle and Martin Allison both went close to increasing the lead from a series of corners but the game, without warning, suddenly turned on its head as Curzon stepped up a gear and Giggs and Delaney started to play an increasingly more prominent role in the role in the game; the ex-Mossley man in particular was proving to be a thorn in the side by continually cutting inside from the left onto his preferred right foot. It was a tactic that almost paid dividends as the half ticked over into stoppage time. Giggs found space to cross the ball to Norton who was in even more space at the back post but the Ashton forward could only power a shot into the side netting.

The relief on appearing to have reached the interval with our one goal lead intact was to be short lived though. The resultant goal kick immediately made its way back down the pitch at the feet of Mike Norton and his cross from the right was headed in at close range by an unmarked Ryan Moore.

Any thoughts that the 15 minute break would allow Mossley to regroup, rediscover their early form and push Curzon back were dismissed within moments of the restart. If anything the hopes of a win were quickly replaced by hopes of holding out for a draw as the visitors continued in the manner they'd finished the first period.

Ashley Connor produced a superb save from Delaney, Adam Jones got in the way of a goal bound header that would have given the side the lead, David Wallace cleared off the line following a corner for the second game in succession as the pressure really began to ramp up on the home side. Giggs then displayed some the finishing prowess shown by his brother's side in the recent Manchester derby by spurning a glorious chance inside the Mossley box, only for Norton to overshadow him a minute later by wasting an even more golden opportunity.

With seven minutes remaining though the possibility of a first point of the season faded. A sloppy pass in the middle of the pitch allowed Curzon to work the ball out to Ryan Moore and following a thirty yard run down the left he cut into the box and slipped the ball under Ashley Connor to double both his sides and his own personal tally for the night.

Mossley's came incredibly close to claiming an equalizer when, with two minutes left (and sixty game minutes after their last attack of note), the ball was scrambled off the line following a corner but the sound of the final whistle soon ended what newly found dreams supporters may have harboured of a late draw being fashioned.

Paul Quinn challenges Stephen Sheil for the ball. It must have been something of a novelty for the former Mossley full back... being on a winning side at Seel Park.

The result might read the same as the one at Garforth but the truth is that no-one could have complained had the scoreline been a more emphatic one in Curzon's favour.

I've tried to fight it but it's no use... I'm going to have to use the G-word because I can't think of a better one - gel: we still need time to do it and this match was further evidence that there's still some way to go before the players become a unit that know each others style of play inside-out. Until then we're always going to be at something of a disadvantage against teams that have played together as a unit for a long time.

And speaking purely as an observer it looks like we're still some way short of being fully match fit as well, which is understandable given the relatively short pre-season campaign, and it's likely that it may be a factor in how matches are played for a while. However football's more tiring when you haven't got the ball and giving possession of it away as cheaply as we did in this game, through some poor passing and an over reliance on the long ball, is only going to hamper us further if we can't cut it out.

There's nothing wrong in clearing your lines but if it comes back as quickly and as often as it did in this game you have to do something different to try and alleviate the pressure. The back line produced some fine work but even the best defence in the world will start to crack when facing an almost unending succession of attacks.

The first half hour showed how good we are when we keep the passes short and make intelligent moves off the ball and those are the seeds of hope for a good season. If we can nurture that then the goals will start to flow more easily and, ultimately, the points will start to rack up.

Till then the search for points continues...