Moston Brook AFC

This week saw the second team take on bottom of the table Hooley Bridge back at Nicholls. With Mike Murphy having surgery on his hoofs and Danny Jackson down south at a wedding, we were again forced into changes. Danny Dobson returning at full back and Saturday saw the return of Beanhead to the second team. Having watched him play for the firsts, the back four knew they would have to be on their game. Andy Crossfield also returned to second team action in midfield, allowing Jack to go back up front.

The opening twenty minutes of the game was a frustrating one for Moston as despite getting in several good positions, a mixture of poor finishing and decision making meant the game remained goalless. Moston finally got it right midway through the half, as Jack Heffernan was released down the right hand channel and his shot went through the goalkeeper and into the net. Almost in the next attack Moston got a second as Chay Edwards got through on goal, cut inside the last defender and his shot deflected off the defender, wrong-footed the keeper and ball ended up in the back of the goal. Moston put the game seemingly out of reach just before half time. Beanhead's long ball upfield releasing Jack Heffernan, one on one, with the last defender. Some fine skill saw him lift over the defenders head a couple of times, before firing low in the net.

Three-nil at half-time and a big win looked a possibility. This didn't quite materialise as we had hoped, due again to some indecisive finishing and bad decision making in the final third. Most entertaining moment of the match came as Danny Dobson called ‘megs' to the opposition forward and then promptly stuck the ball between his legs and collected the ball on the other side. This brought laughter to players and supporters of both sides, even the unfortunate victim.  Moston did manage a fourth as Jack was again released through on goal, drew the keeper, beat him and the defender a couple of times before firing in to complete a fine hat-trick. A fifth was nearly added later with the move of the match. Some fine passing football between Crossfield, Heffernan and McNeil releasing Crossy down the left hand channel and some neat footwork took him past the defender but despite hitting his shot reasonably well, it was well saved by the keeper. The follow-up falling to Jack who saw his shot blocked on the line by a defender.

A reasonably comfortable victory for the seconds as we look to finish the season strongly and we still have a chance of a top six finish. Another solid defensive display as the back four slowly starts to look the part and get a more familiar look to it. On another day we could have won by even more and we possibly have to be a little more ruthless in front of goal. Excellent displays again from the two centre-backs Rick and Brett, who look to have the makings of a good pairing. Andy Crossfield put in another fine performance for the seconds in midfield and Jack scored a fine hat-trick. He could easily have had more and generally caused plenty of problems to the Hooley Bridge defence all afternoon. We have a week break from action before returning to Nicholls to take on Gatley, looking for revenge for a heavy defeat in the reverse fixture.