Nantwich Town and Mossley shared the points in a drab 0-0 draw at Seel Park.
The Dabbers made just the one change from the win over Hanley, with Joel Connolly returning from his suspension just in time to replace George Milner, who was out with a tight hamstring.
There wasn’t a great deal to write home about from the first half. Mossley had half a chance from the very first corner of the match, winning the initial header at the far post and then flicking the second ball over the bar.
Then, Jack Banister sliced an effort into the side netting from an ever narrowing angle.
In open play there was very little between the sides but the early chances were the home side’s. An almost calamitous Dabbers moment came when Scott Moloney came to the edge of his box to clear, didn’t catch it properly, and saw Reece Webb-Foster run past him, luckily Perry Bircumshaw was also there to clear and avoid a painful Nantwich tribute to the Alisson blunder at the Emirates last weekend.
There was half a shout for a Nantwich penalty as Troy Bourne went down in the box while looking to shoot. The big question is why would he go down when there was a chance there to have a go; best to let the video decide on that one.
William Shepherd was the next to chance his arm from distance, over-fading his strike and seeing it slide away from Moloney’s goal.
Arguably the biggest chance of the half came from Cesaire Lingouba, who brought a decent save out of Finley Madigam with a snapshot that was pushed over. Again there was a brief penalty shout, this time for handball, just before the Lingouba effort.
Reece Webb-Foster, a recent signing for the Lillywhites, didn’t test Moloney with his effort just before half time.
In the second half, Courtney Meppen-Walters blazed over the bar from a free kick in a semi-promising position. There is still the belief that Meppen-Walters will score a screamer before the season is out but not to be today.
Webb-Foster missed the target at one end, before Connolly may have hit the target were it not for a good block on the edge of the box at the other.
Alfie Belcher got a break down the Mossley right and was able to pull the ball across to Banister who couldn’t keep his effort down. That was the culmination of a good spell for the home side, and it was a game where both sides had those kinds of spells of 5 or 10 minutes but neither did enough with them.
Kai Evans was lively again out there and curled on target but simply enough for Madigan to handle. The front line that was on fire on Tuesday just wasn’t quite sparking this time.
Mossley sub Sam Adetiloye had a shot after cutting in from the right but a nick off a Dabbers leg made the save simpler save for Moloney than it might have been.
The strongest chance came from Evans inside the last 10 minutes. A solid Mossley backline had a brief lapse in concentration and Evans got round the back, Madigan was able to save his effort with his legs and that and the Lingouba chance from the first half was as good as it got for the Dabbers.
Moloney was on hand to push away a last minute free kick by Belcher, a tougher save than it looked with the ball bouncing right in front of him and also in a slightly boggy penalty area.
A disappointing game in what must be the most scenic stadium in the division, so Mossley remain winless in 2024 and Nantwich extend their run of clean sheets to 6 in 8 league games in 2024, a remarkable turnaround compared to the first half of the season.
Teams
Mossley AFC: Finley Madigan, William Shepherd, Darren Holden, Josh Dickin, Mark Lees, Luke Barlow, Kane Hickman, Ben Darby, Jack Banister (Jamal Crawford, 74), Alfie Belcher, Reece Webb-Foster (Sam Adetiloye, 74)
Subs not used: Jack Grundy, Tyler Berry
Nantwich Town: Scott Moloney, Amir Tavakoli, Sean Lawton, Troy Bourne, Courtney Meppen-Walters, Perry Bircumshaw, Paddy Kay, Cesaire Lingouba (Nathan Okome, 72), Callum Saunders (Byron Harrison, 83), Joel Connolly, Kai Evans
Subs not used: Jacob Edwards, Eric Merner, Akiel Raffie
Attendance: 490