For the fourth time in five games a goal from Lee Blackshaw turned out to be the decisive moment in a Mossley match as not even the disadvantage of playing for almost an hour with ten men could stop the Lilywhites from recording their fifth successive victory.
The home side took a 6th minute lead when centre half Graham Kay found himself in the unusual position of being the furthest man forward in a Mossley attack. Some patient build-up play from Ben Richardson and Jordan Goodeve found a perfectly timed run into the box by Chris McDonagh and his low cross was met by Kay who stooped to head the ball home.
At this point Mossley looked like scoring every time they ventured forward and when Blackshaw was hauled to the ground inside the penalty area in the 12th minute, they were awarded the opportunity increase their lead from the spot. Unfortunately for the Lilywhites Steve Moore's effort from twelve yards wasn't the best penalty he's ever taken and Ben Saynor was able to make a good, if somewhat comfortable, save. A description which can also be used for his stop to deny Michael Fish with a follow up shot.
The miss appeared to take the wind out of Mossley's sails and for the remainder of the half they struggled to rediscover the form that, with some better finishing, could have seen them end the game as a contest within the opening quarter of an hour. Admittedly their cause wasn't helped when Kay was shown a straight red card for retaliating to a dangerous looking challenge from Shane Kelsey but it didn't hinder them either as, barring one good claim for a penalty when Nathan James was bundled over by keeper Peter Collinge, Ossett failed to pose any kind of threat to the numerically challenged home side in the first period.
The second half started with Michael Fish and McDonagh both going close to doubling an advantage that was eventually, and surprisingly, cancelled out in the 57th minute. A mini period of pressure which began with Kelsey hitting the upright from a free-kick ended with Andy Brownrigg heading past Collinge following a dead ball kick taken in almost exactly the same spot.
Rather than being a catalyst for the Yorkshire side to go forward in search of a winner though, the equaliser re-galvanized Mossley and ten minutes later they were back in front; substitute Steve Settle's low ball across the six yard box having been directed into the net by Blackshaw. A third and fourth goal went agonisingly close to being added over the next two minutes as Richardson fired narrowly wide of an upright that Settle hit moments later with a venomous shot.
At this stage you began to wonder which side had actually been reduced in number as Mossley continued to press forward in search of more goals. McDonagh missed a golden opportunity to have sealed the win when he hit the crossbar from only two yards out ('golden opportunity' of course being match report speak for 'an absolute sitter') and Saynor produced a good recovering save after his handling error almost presented Nathan Neequaye with a similarly gilt edged chance.
The match reached its conclusion with the Lilywhites only having to endure one minor scare before they could claim a deserved win against their lacklustre opponents. And yes, I do understand the irony of me describing Albion with the L-word when its an adjective that's can equally applicable to this match report.
The problem is that it's hard to convey drama when there was none. Yes, we had a player sent off and yes, they eventually equalised but there was never any feeling that Mossley would lose this. To be brutally honest, I doubt it's a feeling that would have changed had we had another player or two dismissed because Ossett were woeful. Painfully so.
All told there's not much more else that can be said. A good display from Mossley, another win and that's about it.
The only other thing worth mentioning is the half-time raffle prize which in a break from the usual bottle of whiskey or wine turned out to be a giant stuffed bunny rabbit. Seriously.
It still doesn't surpass the current holder of football's most bizarre raffle top prize though: an emergency car breakdown signal/torch which was the reward for having the winning ticket at Newcastle Town one late December around ten years ago - the phrase 'unwanted Christmas gift' springing immediately to mind. Never before or since has the outlay of a pound coin ever produced something so underwhelming in return. Apart from maybe the Sunday Express.
So its come to this: writing about raffle prizes. That probably is the sound of a barrel being scraped you can hear.
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