Mossley 2 - 0 Woodley Sports

My intention was to keep report this short because with the number of games we've got coming up over the next fortnight. I really don't want to spend all of the free time I have writing them. That was the plan and thankfully fate become an ally to the cause because this game was so poor and lacking in incident that it's impossible to do anything other than write the barest amount.

Over the past seven days I've claimed in two reports that the games they were about haven't been good and described them as containing little in the way of entertainment value. I would like at this point to retract those assertions as compared to this match those previous 180 minutes were a thing of beauty - exquisite banquets of footballing excellence that we were extremely privileged to have witnessed. Yep, this game was that bad.

Actually that's unfair on Woodley because it was Mossley that navigated the Mariana trench of awfulness in this game. The visitors looked half-decent and if they'd had someone in their ranks who could put the ball in the general vicinity of the goal, they'd be three points better off today. Mossley on the other hand appeared lethargic, lacking in ideas and far from the side that has emerged victorious from most of their games in 2010. Yet unbelievably they still won.

In the midst of incessant use of the long ball (back after a long and welcome absence), the lack of shape and the litany of misplaced passes, our only two shots on target in the entire match both went in giving us a frankly undeserved 2-0 victory. It was such a spectacular mugging that I wouldn't be surprised if the the match highlights featured on next months Crimewatch.

The first goal came half an hour into the fixture when Matty Kay converted a penalty awarded for a foul on Chris McDonagh. The second arrived in the third minute of injury time when Michael Fish exploited the gaps left by defenders pushing forward to score with what turned out to be the last kick of the game. Before and between them though there was nothing that troubled Woodley apart from a Nick Allan shot that flew well wide.

A good side would have made us pay for our mistakes and errors (of which there were many) but thankfully we were playing Woodley and for all their nice build-up play, their previously mentioned inability to put a testing effort on target - including shooting wide of an open goal - meant Mossley could comfortably claim their win.

I know that tiredness was probably a factor in our low-key performance (even though Woodley have played the same number of games as us recently) so fingers crossed that there's some energy in the tanks for the upcoming matches, starting with Radcliffe tomorrow.

When all's said and done though you never complain about a win, no matter how harsh it was on the opposition as after all, other than Woodley's players and supporter - who cares?