Linnets put paid to Mossley’s play-off interests
LINNETS all but ended any lingering hopes Mossley had of reaching the play-offs with victory at Seel Park.
Two superbly taken first-half chances took all three points back to Runcorn in a game of precious few chances.
Early on, Sean O’Mahony headed powerfully away from his own box towards Ryan Brooke, who was chopped down by Ben Richardson as he turned on the centre spot.
The foul commenced Mossley’s eventual collection of seven yellow cards.
There was a lucky escape for Linnets when a loose pass allowed Jack Bannister a run into the penalty area, but a moment’s hesitation enabled Ally Brown to intervene.
Then a misunderstanding between Ally and Alex Downes left room for a long shot by Jordan Butterworth, but it flew well wide.
There would be precious few protracted spells of passing in a war of attrition that Mossley boss David Fish was to describe as a ‘dreadful game’, and as a result, not many great scoring chances.
Ryan Brooke created a chance for himself with some clever skill in the area, confounding three defenders, but his chipped shot was held easily enough by
‘keeper Bradley Kelly.
Welsh and Hayes took custody and tried to open up wide avenues for Brown and Short, but any resulting crosses were headed away by centre-backs Evans and Matthews.
At the other end, forays by Morris, Fawns and Bannister were similarly repelled from the area by O’Mahony and Downes.
After 18 minutes, Linnets achieved a breakthrough. Lewis Doyle won a challenge with Fawns that most in black and white proclaimed a foul, but the man in all-black disagreed.
Louis Hayes found Iwan Murray in the middle, and he advanced past Matthews towards the 18-yard line, from where he placed a shot perfectly past Kelly’s dive, and in off the left post.
Lloyd Marsh-Hughes’ trojan efforts to break down the Mossley rearguard from either flank bore fruit after 32 minutes.
He controlled Short’s ball up the left touchline, initially with his chest, and accelerated past Declan Evans.
Lloyd’s cross to six yards out was met by Ryan Brooke, who volleyed over Kelly into the roof of the net.
With a vacant Saturday ahead, Runcorn will next retrace their steps to Tameside, beyond Ashton-under-Lyne, on Tuesday March 8th, for a Cheshire Senior Cup quarter final at Stalybridge Celtic.