There’s no doubt the game has firmly divided the supporters into two camps: those who feel that we were unlucky and those who felt that on the day the best team won. If you want to read the former I suggest you look elsewhere because whilst the New Year’s Day performance was better than the one witnessed on Boxing Day, the mistakes made in that game once again led to our downfall.
Like the previous meeting between the two sides Mossley began the game brightly. An early cross into the Robin’s penalty area caused all sorts of confusion for the home side and the sigh of relief they breathed as they eventually hooked the ball off for a corner could be heard all around the ground.
James Turley then capitalised on some indecision amongst the Ashton backline to fire the ball across an open goal. Unfortunately Lee Shillito, at full stretch, was unable to make any significant contact and the chance went.
With Joel Pilkington and Christian Cooke working doggedly to win the ball in midfield, Mossley were seeing plenty of possession in and around the box but struggling to find any kind of end product with what few chances there were flying high or wide.
As the half wore on though Mossley began to drop deeper and deeper allowing Ashton to gain a foothold in the game they were previously struggling to play a part in. Suddenly it was the Mossley supporters turn to ‘enjoy’ the experience of having their hearts in their mouths as new keeper Steve Wilson was called upon numerous times to keep the scores level; his best save being a point blank stop after the ball had deflected of Jonathan Smith, though Mossley did ride their luck when the loose ball rolled out to Kharas who fired wide of a gaping goal. Mossley’s luck held again a few minutes later when Kharas was deemed to have committed a foul as he planted a header into the back of the net.
The visiting defence wasn’t being helped by the decision to play Mossley’s wide men narrow leaving Nicky Thompson and Will Ryder to face two men bearing down on them on too many occasions. This had the knock on effect of Smith and Gary Furnival being pulled out of position to help plug the gaps, which in turn, etc., etc. and so forth. If anything, Mossley were beating themselves when they should have been comfortable at the very least.
There was some comfort in that Mossley weren’t resorting to ‘hoofing it’ up field as they’ve done so many other times this season, instead they were looking to play their way back into the game but that was being hampered in no small part by the gap between the front two and the rest of the team. Both Chris Ward and Steve Burke were having to come back into their own half in search of the ball which ultimately meant that there was a lack of numbers in the box when Mossley did break forward, often through the pace of the industrious James Turley.
It was through the former Stalybridge mans work down the left that Lee Bracey finally called into action; the ex-Mossley keeper having to drop low to his left to stop Chris Ward’s effort sailing into the bottom corner of the net.
At the beginning of the second half Turley almost twice conjured up a lead for the Lilywhites out of nothing. Receiving the ball in the left hand side of the box he fired two shots that curled just past the wrong side of the far post, his second effort being the best after bringing the ball down on his chest and turning and hitting it on the volley.
Ashton were still making inroads round Mossley’s over exposed full-backs though and as the game wore on and the rain began to beat down, it looked increasingly like there was one team that wanted to win and one that was happy with a point.
Admittedly Mossley tried to inject some attacking impetus with the introduction of Joe Shaw to the centre of the park but with his team mates sitting so deep he had no option to sit back with them, immediately nullifying the option he provided as a link to the increasingly isolated attack.
With the heavy deluge that began twenty minutes into the second period turning a difficult surface into one that looked like a swimming pool with a few grass cuttings chucked into it, it’s a testament to both sides that the game didn’t turn into a slog (though it may have suited Mossley’s hope for a point if it had done).
Whilst both sides are to be commended for their style of play under difficult circumstances, you’d have to be wearing the rosiest tinted spectacles ever made not to admit that Ashton weren’t playing the better football and the longer the game went on, the greater the pressure they exerted on the Mossley goal grew.
Steve Wilson was certainly earning the Mossley Man of the Match award the hosts were to bestow on him at the close of the game, and Smith and Furnival were providing him with some solid support; the latter doing well to turn a vicious volley safely over the bar with his head.
Sitting back and attempting to hang on to what you’ve got is always a risky game plan, especially when it can all be undone by just one slip in concentration and sadly that’s what happened with nine minutes remaining on the clock.
James Turley was doing his utmost to prevent Phil Cooney from putting over a cross in the left hand side of the Mossley penalty area. Unfortunately the back up he needed to completely eradicate the threat was not forthcoming meaning that his slip gave the Ashton winger time to stop, look up and pick his target for the cross. That target turned out to be Gary Kharas at the back post who rose up above a cluster of Mossley players to head the ball home.
With no choice now but to push men forward, the restart saw Mossley push Jonathan Smith into the attack but the lack of any real variance in their method of attack other than to go straight down the middle meant that the line of Ashton players stood across the edge of their own penalty area weren’t given any real problems to worry about.
The closest Mossley came to claiming a point was a Peter Wright shot that flew into the side netting and the game ended with Ashton playing keep ball at the end of the pitch furthest away from their own goal.
If we’d gone for a win but drawn or lost I’d feel gutted about the goal nine minutes from time but that we lost after seemingly setting our stall out for a point, in all honestly leaves me feeling more annoyed than anything else.
How many matches have we played this season where we’ve failed to get the point our game plan was based around obtaining? I understand going to Telford and Hednesford and playing for a 0-0 but Ashton? A side with a defence that we’d already shown as being flaky when under pressure during the first 15 minutes of this game and the match in December.?
Maybe I am being harsh but the way I see it, after 180 minutes of football against a similarly struggling, unspectacular side sitting two places above us, we should be expecting a bit more than just being happy to have almost hung on for a point no matter what the amount of effort was put in or not.
Speaking of which, I can’t fault the effort and commitment the players put in or indeed anyone else stood within the confines of the Hurst Cross ground. For such an appalling day the atmosphere was fantastic and for want of a more adventurous spirit we’d have surely been regaling the assembled masses with a rendition of ‘Winning in the Rain’ instead of ‘Singing in the Rain.’
Finally a special mention to Ashton’s number 10 who provided a moment worthy of the Premiership. Losing out to a tackle in the first half which saw Mossley move forward he immediately fell to the floor and rolled around like a big girls blouse until the exact moment the ball came back within five yards of him, whereupon he immediately sprang to his feet as if nothing had happened and started charging about. Well done! Really, what a clever clogs you are!
On to what will hopefully be better things at Lincoln…
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