Mossley 3 - 1 Ossett Albion

The old saying goes “home is where the heart is” but recently in Mossley's case it has been more like “home is where the heartbreak is.” No more though as six months of disappointment (dashed with a fair old helping of utter misery) came to an end with the banishment of not one, but two hoodoo's that have held Mossley in their thrall?

Not only were Mossley supporters able to leave Seel Park with a winning feeling for the first time since March after beating second placed Ossett Albion, but they did so after watching the Lilywhites come from behind in a match to claim all three points for the first time in over a year.

Despite the nine place and seven points advantage Albion held over their host's there was very little to choose between the two sides in an evenly matched opening half. That said it was probably the Yorkshire side that left the field at the interval the more disappointed of the two sides at being level, having called Mossley keeper Ashley Connor into action on more than one occasion and seen a shot from O9 crash against bar in the 24th minute.

That's not to say that the home side were slacking, in fact it was quite the opposite, but the lack of a precise final ball or touch meant that good approach play often went to waste, leaving Ossett keeper Neal Bennett relatively under occupied.

Despite the lack of shots to “Ooh!” and “Aww!” at there was plenty to entertain the Mossley fans in the Ossett half, not least hair style sported by Albion's left back Kyle Cook. With one half dyed blonde and the other half black it was the perfect representation of the inherent dangers involved in falling asleep with your head in a puddle of bleach. If that had indeed been what happened then I'm sure the home support would have been a bit more sympathetic, but as it was more likely that he'd actually gone into a salon somewhere and paid good money to have it look like it did, the ribbing he endured from the terraces was merciless.

It's at times like this that I really miss having a camera and capturing for prosperity the reason why 'conservative' isn't too bad a stance to take when the hairdresser/barber asks “What would you like?” All said and done though Mr. Cook had a very good game so who knows? Maybe having a head of hair that looks like two lemon and blackcurrant Fruit Pastilles stuck together is the secret to success in association football.

The second period began with both sides going close in quick succession to opening the scoring before Albion actually did in the 54th minute. Under a sustained spell of pressure Mossley broke the defensive commandment that states, “Thou shalt not play the ball across the face of goal” and though Connor did well to deny the visitors with their initial opportunity, he was powerless to prevent Bentley from jabbing home the rebound from close range.

The blow of going behind however had an immediate galvanising effect on the home side and three minutes later they had levelled the score. Richard Conway floated a diagonal ball over the head of Ossett's right back and into the path of Lee Blackshaw. The former Glossop player cut into the box, pulled the ball back to Paul Quinn who'd dropped off his marker and after steadying himself he spun and shot low past Bennett into the bottom left hand corner of the net.

The home side went close to taking the lead when Blackshaw's cross was headed back across goal by Quinn and Paul Garvey instinctively flicked at the ball with the back of his heel. As the ball rolled agonisingly along the goal line it became a race between Gareth Hamlet and Bennett as to who would get the next touch and, unfortunately for the Lilywhite's, it was the latter who managed to get his hands to it nanoseconds before the formers boot. Hamlet wasn't to be denied though and with twenty minutes remaining he won his second chase for the ball with a back peddling Bennett, rising to get on the end of a deep, looping cross by Quinn to head Mossley in front.

Now trailing, Ossett added an urgency to their game that had otherwise been lacking up till that point (goal kicks and other dead balls from as early as the fifth minute were being taken at a pace were even the use of the adjective 'glacial' would be an understatement) but they couldn't prise the game out of Mossley's now vice like grip.

No matter how comfortable you look though, when there's only one goal in it the match is always a slip or a misplaced pass away from taking on a different complexion altogether but any nerves the home contingent may have had were dispelled in the 87th minute when Mossley's two second half substitutes combined to secure the points.

Ashley Connor's long clearance was flicked on by Kitson Gayle to Aaron Kirk and with one touch the young midfielder controlled the ball and beat his marker. With his second he curled the ball low around Bennett from just inside the box for his first goal in a Mossley shirt.

The win now makes it seven points taken from a possible nine for the Lilywhites and whilst it may still be too early to say for definite, recent performances suggest that the jitters evident in earlier games may now be a thing of the past. And if that's the case then the home supporters can look forward to leaving Seel Park with a smile on their faces more frequently than they did last season.

One thing is for certain and that is there's a confidence exuding through the side that we haven't seen in a Mossley team for nigh on two years and if you want to go onto bigger and better things that belief is the fundamental building block. Still it's far too early to get carried away just yet, lest we not forget that that Woodley league match was only a fortnight ago.

It's hardly the fairest of comparisons given the standards of the two divisions (though it's all relative) but we're already we're five points better off than we at this stage last season and having played one game less too.

And unlike this time last season where we'd just been hammered by Guiseley at Seel Park, 3 – 1 in front of the Channel M cameras with an awful performance that didn't even come close to being the worst we saw during that campaign – 52 weeks on we're looking up instead of down.

Once again apologies for the huge tracts of text. I'll get a new camera soon, I promise.