McIntyre sees red as Mossley lose to Ardglass

Mossley YM 0

A DEFEAT which was something of a moral victory for Mossley Young Men away to 1C champions Ardglass in the Supplementary Cup.

With so many players unavailable, Mossley were literally down to the bare bones and it was just as well their seconds had no game, as they were only able to name only one substitute.

This penultimate game of the season had no real relevance to a Mossley side, well out of the running for a place in the Supplementary Cup final.

Ardglass, meanwhile, only needed two points from their last three matches to guarantee their place. For Mossley, there were first team debuts for young Wayne O’Connor and recent recruit Davy McCreight, with rare first team starts for Stephen Bell and Stephen Murphy. However, if meeting the league champions in their own back yard isn’t hard enough, it doesn’t exactly help when you go a goal down – and a man down – after only three minutes.

The player sent off was player manager Glen McIntyre, who conceded afterwards that “it was just a natural reaction; the ball was coming at me and I stuck my arm out. I’d only had only touched the ball about twice. I reminded the referee it was an end of season game, but he said he had to play by the rules, which was fair enough.

“It wasn’t looking good but Kyle Harper and Jim Scott kept a tight rein on their two strikers and keeper Dwayne Jenkins did well, with a couple of good saves, and easing the pressure, by coming to collect as many crosses as possible. I have to give a lot of credit to the boys who came in. It’s a big step up, against the best team in the league – and we play to a system that they wouldn’t have been familiar with, but they settled in really well.”

Ardglass showed no clemency with the penalty, but, surprisingly enough, there was no further scoring until 15 minutes from time, when the home side grabbed a well taken second, past the helpless Jenkins high into the top corner; Mossley caught off guard believing the ball had initially gone out of play.

Mossley bring their season to a close next Saturday, with a home game against bottom club Bangor Amateurs.

Mossley YM: Jenkins – McCord, Scott, McIntyre, Bell – O’Connor, Murphy, Harper, Ross – Orr, McCreight. Sub (unused) G Boyd.