The Pitmen once again fluff their lines in league action as they make it three games without a win in the Northern Premier League West with defeat at Seel Park this evening

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Buoyed by their fine F.A. Trophy win over Quorn at the weekend, Steve King's Pitmen made the trip north with several injury issues in their squad; joining the already-ruled-out Dan Sparkes were Jack Bearne and Dom McHale, who had both picked up knocks on Saturday and missed out tonight. This saw Manny Duku come back into the side ahead of Bearne and Sion Spence taking up the attacking midfield role from McHale in the two enforced changes, with the other change coming between the sticks as Jack Rose returned ahead of Ryan Brown

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Mossley started the evening in lower mid-table after a stuttering start to their own campaign, with Lilywhites manager Dave Fish making two changes to his side from the one that had started their F.A. Trophy defeat to league rivals City of Liverpool on Saturday - Reece Webb-Foster came in for Remi Efunnuga and Bailey Marsden was preferred to Loui Williams

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The crowd at Seel Park was somewhat affected by the Pitmen's own travel-related issues, as the club's supporter's coach failed to leave Keys Park after a breakdown and denied their supporters the change to follow their team in Lancashire. Mossley looked to spring an immediate attack on the Pitmen in the first minute as a quick break down the left from Webb-Foster saw him sprint past Kory Roberts before playing the ball into the path of Eric Yahaya - he played a one-two with Marsden before playing it out to Mason Fawns on the right. His cross was met by the head of Marsden once more, who forced Rose into a fine save to his left to tip the ball away for a corner kick

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Rob Stevenson looked to get the men in grey going with some typical bustling hold-up play three minutes later, holding off the challenge of Jack Marrow down the left before picking Dan Trickett-Smith out with a cross that was a touch too high for the midfielder, who could only head over the bar from eight yards out

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Skipper Elliott Johnson continues to be a threat from set-pieces, going close for the Pitmen in the sixth minute as he met Trickett-Smith's corner kick at the near post with a glancing header but saw Matueusz Kardacz clear the danger

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At the other end, Mossley were keen to hit the Pitmen on the counter and use the wide areas wherever possible - Webb-Foster was enjoying space down the left up against Blaine Rowe and took the ball into the Hednesford half a minute later, exchanging passes with Marsden but saw Roberts make a timely block to deny him space to shoot just outside the box

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Some neat interplay from the Pitmen in the twelfth minute saw Rowe play the ball into the feet of Stevenson, standing on the right-hand corner of the Mossley penalty area with his back to goal. The striker laid it back to Simeon Maye, whose miscued effort was dragged well wide of goalkeeper Finley Madigan's right-hand post

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Webb-Foster was proving to be a tricky character for the Pitmen down the left, making another driving run into the box on sixteen minutes before losing his footing slightly under pressure from Rowe but still getting his shot away. Johnson came across to deal with the situation and managed to divert the effort away from goal before Marsden could snap up the rebound

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Trickett-Smith felt that he had a shout for a penalty kick for the visitors as he picked up Stevenson's ball on the right and looked to pick out Jake Jervis at the far post, but saw his ball in strike what he believed to be the arm of Kardacz. Despite his pleas, referee Mr Ahmed was not interested and only a corner kick was given

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A minute later, Mossley hit the Pitmen on the counter once more as Obua Mugalala raced away down the left flank, playing it on to Webb-Foster in front of him as the midfielder took the ball to the byeline before cutting it back into the danger zone. The cross ended up at the feet of Yahaya, who took maybe a touch too many and allowed the excellent Johnson time to get across and deflect his shot behind for a corner kick

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​Stevenson created an opening out of nothing for himself two minutes later as he picked up a loose ball on the left flank and drifted inside unchallenged, allowing him to size up a shot from twenty-five yards out that he got his laces underneath and lifted high over the crossbar

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Trickett-Smith's inswinging corner from the right on twenty-six minutes found the head of Jervis at the near post, only for the big striker to glance his effort high and wide of the far post

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The Pitmen were having their best spell of the game so far and hit the woodwork for the first time in the game two minutes later as Stevenson picked up a pass from Jervis on the left and drove at Marrow, turning inside before unleashing a typically powerful looping effort that beat Madigan but came back off the top of the crossbar

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Roberts had to be alert to deny Mossley a slightly fortuitous opener on the half-hour mark after he had initially headed away a cross from Marsden that fell kindly into the path of Mugalala, whose scuffed shot at goal from an angle nearly dribbled inside the post had it not been for Roberts getting back and clearing the ball off the line

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More goal-line heroics - this time from Joel Taylor - denied Marrow a minute later after Yahaya had got in behind Rowe and pulled the ball back into the area, where Marrow was given time and space to control the ball but couldn't get his shot past the covering Hednesford left-back as he smuggled the shot away from goal

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Rose made another superb stop to deny the hosts on thirty-three minutes, denying Marrow once more low down to his right with a fine stop to push it away from danger. Fawns followed the ball in but could only lift his rebound high over the crossbar from ten yards out

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You felt that there was a goal coming either way on the balance of the last ten minutes of play, and so it proved on thirty-seven minutes as Mossley stole into the lead through Fawns. The move started with a quick kick-out from Madigan to find Yahaya down the left. The burly striker teased his way down the line and past Rowe before pulling it back to Fawns on the edge of the penalty area, who leathered his first-time shot past Rose from eighteen yards out and found the left-hand corner of the net

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Looking for an immediate response, Spence forced Madigan into a smart stop on forty minutes as Jervis and Trickett-Smith set up the Welshman twenty-five yards from goal. His first-time shot had plenty of power in it but was an easy save for the well-positioned Mossley stopped on his six-yard line

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With the last action of the first half, Taylor forced Madigan into another fine save as he unleashed a first-time half-volley at goal from twenty-five yards out that Madigan did well to tip over the crossbar

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Although the Pitmen will perhaps have felt slightly aggrieved at going in at the break behind after having most of the possession and plenty of chances, they had failed to cope with Mossley's counter-attacking prowess down the flanks and had been opened up time and again by the likes of Webb-Foster, Marsden and Marrow, leading to plenty of openings for the hosts and a well-taken goal from Fawns

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A quick counter from the Pitmen three minutes into the second half saw Spence race off into space down the left before pulling the ball back into the path of Trickett-Smith, whose clever pass found Duku goal side of Mossley skipper Mark Lees. However, the Dutchman failed to hit the target with a first-time effort from fifteen yards out that flashed just wide of the post

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Mossley's first attack of the evening saw them have a goal chalked out by Mr Ahmed as Webb-Foster's initial shot from long-range was pushed out by Rose into the path of Mugalala, who turned the loose ball home but had been flagged offside earlier in the move by the assistant on the main stand side

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Jervis used his blistering pace to good effect to create an opening for himself three minutes later as he swept past Marrow down the left before firing in a shot from twenty yards out that dipped just over Madigan's crossbar

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Two minutes later, a corner kick from Trickett-Smith was played into the feet of Johnson, who had got a run on his marker to meet the ball first time with a sider-footed volley that came back off the post

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The Pitmen were now camped inside the Mossley half as they sensed an equaliser was incoming; Spence picked up another pass from Taylor down the left on fifty-seven minutes, turning inside to create room for himself before chipping a cross into the six-yard box that drifted over the heads of everyone and dropped wide of the far post

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Madigan denied Trickett-Smith on the hour mark with another good save, pushing the midfielder's low shot away from goal down to his right after the former Leek playmaker had cut in from the right and taken the ball past Kardacz

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Mossley did well to weather the mini storm from the Pitmen and looked to build attacks of their own, with Fawns and Yahaya linking up well on sixty-four minutes down the left, allowing Fawns time and space to pick out Marsden with a clever angled cross that was a touch too high for the striker to meet at the far post

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A bustling run from Taylor on sixty-seven minutes saw the former Chester man take the ball all the way to the byeline down the left and stand up a cross for Trickett-Smith, whose looping header drifted just over the crossbar

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Mossley made their one and only substitution of the evening a minute later as the hard-running Marsden was brought off and replaced by former Matlock Town man Efunnuga

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Mossley wasted a huge chance to put the game to bed on seventy-one minutes as Madigan's long ball out found Yahaya in space once more; his ball back into the path of Webb-Foster was struck goalwards by the talented former Bradford City striker but got a little too much on it and cleared Rose's crossbar with his shot

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Johnson was again the man to deny Mossley on his own goal line, somehow denying Yahaya a certain goal on seventy-two minutes after another counter-attack from Mossley had played the striker in on goal down the left, with his low shot beating Rose but somehow hacked off the line by the Hednesford skipper

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At the other end, Madigan pulled off a sensational save of his own to deny Trickett-Smith with fifteen minutes remaining as Stevenson's deep cross from the left was met by the boot of his former Leek counterpart, forcing Madigan into a smothering save down to his left to push the ball away from goal

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Fawns showed great feet to turn past Roberts on eighty-one minutes and feed the ball out to Marrow on the right, who in turn took the ball into space but drove his low shot wide of Rose's far post from sixteen yards out

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The Pitmen were also to make only one change to their personnel tonight - something you perhaps think odd considering the ability to make up to five changes this season - as Abdulrasaq Alamu-Tajudeen came on in place of Spence in the centre of midfield

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Despite their desperation to get themselves back into the game, the Pitmen struggled to create any solid openings for themselves in the final ten minutes as aimless, drifting crosses from both sides were easily picked up by the Mossley defence and Madigan. The closest they got to a fair chance came on eighty-five minutes after a Trickett-Smith corner dropped in the six-yard box and Mossley failed to clear their lines, leading to a goalmouth scramble before Lees did eventually clear the danger

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A disappointing evening for the Pitmen, and yet another clear, shining example of how hard they will have to work in this league if they are to live up to their title favourites tag. Regardless of the pedigree of the players in grey, Mossley once again proved that desire, organisation and a large amount of controlled aggression will pick you up plenty of points in the NPLW, having beaten the Pitmen 1-0 twice as well last season in the same manner. More food for thought for King then, as his side heads to Northern Premier League Midland side Rugby Town in the second qualifying round of the F.A. Cup on Saturday

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Mossley: Madigan, Marrow ▆, Kardacz, Brewster, Lees ©, Barlow, Webb-Foster, Marsden (Efunnuga 68), Yahaya ▆, Fawns, Mugalula      Subs Unused: Mialkowski, Sherratt, Williams, Belcher

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Hednesford Town: Rose, Rowe, Taylor, Johnson ©, Roberts, Maye, Trickett-Smith, Spence (Alaum-Tajudeen 81), Stevenson, Duku, Jervis    Sub Unused: Holness, Sutherland, Brown, Gwilt

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