Mossley 1 - 2 Flixton

Oh. My. Goodness.

Actually, I can think of another three words that would make a suitable opening to this report but as I don't swear I could only tell you the first one: Absolutely. You'll have to fill in the '______ ____!' that follows it yourself.

In a season that has been high on low points Mossley deserve a bit of credit for somehow managing to scrape a bit more off the bottom of a barrel that was already looking exceedingly thin. No matter how you choose to look at it (injuries, unimportant cup, weather, etc.) - losing at home to a reserve side from two leagues below is an extraordinary nadir. If it carries on at this pace we'll be having to send James Cameron down in the diving bell he used to film the Titanic to see the depths we can sink to.

Although Mossley started the game by winning a series of free-kicks in the final third of the field, it was Flixton who were first to go about seriously troubling the scoreline. Making use of the space graciously afforded to him, Andy Lundy hit a powerful shot that sparked a goalmouth scramble when Danny Trueman spilt the ball.

The close call appeared to jolt a bit of life into the home side. Steve Burke saw a shot well saved by Bennet in the Flixton goal before Joe Shaw almost broke the deadlock with an effort from the edge of the box that bounced off the upright. It was all too brief though.

In a perfect example of counter attacking football, Flixton won possession following a Mossley corner and had the ball in the back of their hosts net a mere three passes later. Gilligan's excellent turn on the halfway line after receiving the first pass took two defenders out of the game and left the Flixton players oceans of space to pour forward into. The ball switched to the left wing and then into the middle where Lundy had time to pick his spot before placing his shot high into the right hand corner of the School End goal.

Mossley huffed and puffed for the remainder of the half but never troubled Bennet (his frequent good humoured conversations with the home support appearing to be the only thing stopping him from nodding off). At least that was the case until a minute from the interval when Joe Shaw's curling shot from Lee Shillito's set-up meant that Mossley went in at the break with scores level.

That parity (and hopes of a mouth watering semi-final clash against Glossop or Oldham Town) lasted all of a minute of the second period. Ex-Mossley midfielder Steve Tobin produced an inch perfect ball that found Howard in the kind of space normally afforded to the terminally smelly, leaving the Flixton left winger with the task of taking the ball round Trueman and rolling it into the empty net.

It begs the question as to what goes on in the dressing room at half-time. In this and many other games over the last twelve months we've gone in at the break looking like winners only to come out looking like extras from a George Romero movie. Is there a carbon monoxide leak? Do they give blood? Is Brahms Lullaby the music of choice to suck oranges to? There must be some reason as to why we always seem off the pace and switched off when the referee restarts the match.

Steve Burke saw an effort drift wide just after the hour mark and then Melford Knight had an 'Escape to Victory' moment when he attempted a Pele-esque overhead kick that went wide but was impressive nonetheless. To be honest, taking our cue from Pele may not be a bad way for us to get out of current predicament; those pills he advertises on the television are apparently guaranteed to keep you up and add a bit of stiffness.

In the final forty-five minutes Bennet was only called into making a save once and a particularly fine one it was too. A cross into the box appeared to fizzling out in the manner that most of Mossley's attacks had done when the ball suddenly bounced off the shins of one his own players in the six yard box, forcing the Flixton keeper into making a reaction stop to tip it over the bar. He almost had to make another save later on in the game but Fraser Robinson's head got in the way of Melford Knight's stinging 18 yard drive, knocking the unfortunate young Australian completely off his feet.

Flixton constantly looked dangerous on the counter attack, especially Howard who had more than one opportunity to add to his and sides total for the game. The last chance of the game fell to Mossley but substitute Peter Wright (on for a visibly unhappy Lee Shillito) could only curl his free-kick into the wall and the chance of a cup final date in May had gone. On the bright side though, so had the threat of extra-time and another thirty minutes of drudgery.

And so the vast majority of the 82 people who'd turned up to watch went home bitterly disappointed, upset and angry at what they'd witnessed. Yes, that's right - 82; the lowest crowds I can ever remember for a competitive fixture at Seel Park. Who knows why the other 140+ regulars didn't turn up and most importantly, why didn't they tell us to stop away too!

As you've probably surmised yourself from this and other reports on the internet, it was a shocking performance from a side that's currently classed as a Northern Premier League team. It was a total embarrassment right through being out fought and out thought to having a bench consisting of only two injured players whilst our lower league opponents were able to muster a full compliment of five. And that doesn't include a whole host of first teamers who were rested ahead of their FA Vase game this weekend.

After being well beaten by a NWCL reserve side things can surely only get better. At least I hope that's the case as the prospect of witnessing a worse result than this one is frightening. With the prospect of players coming in who can lift us out of this mess looking bleak, maybe we should consider putting what funds we have into an offer in for Manchester City's club motto: Pride in Battle - a principle which should be the very least we expect as we stand precariously on the edge of the abyss.