Mossley 6 Ossett Albion 2

After scoring just 5 goals in their opening 8 league and fa cup games and going 3 home games in a row without a goal, Mossley emphatically reversed their recent poor form with a 6-2 mauling of Ossett Albion.

Ossett Albion have finished second to bottom for the past 2 seasons, each time being lucky enough to get reprieves to stay in the division. This defeat puts them bottom of the league (Mossley now 4th to bottom), and on this evidence they will be there or thereabouts for the rest of this season.

Mossley began on the front foot, and had definitely set out to take their opponents by surprise in the early stages. They got an early breakthrough in the 4th minute - Cameron Darkwah, on a month's loan from Stockport County, was blatently tripped in the penalty area. He picked himself up and slotted it low into the corner.

The early goal gave Mossley some much needed confidence and in contrast Albion were rattled. Mossley were piling the pressure on, repeatedly winning corners, and wide midfielders Kayde Coppin and Joe Heap were repeatedly running at Albion's crumbling defence. And it was Joe Heap who gave the home team breathing space in the 24th minute, cutting through from the right side and shooting on the edge of the 18 yard box. The goalkeeper got a hand to it to take out most of the power of the shot, but it wasn't enough to stop it rolling over the line.

The team celebrated with group hugs all round - and unfortunately made that common mistake of not concentrating as the game restarted - poor defending leading to Dale Kelly receiving the ball in space and 1 on 1 with the keeper and curling a shot into the net to make it 2-1. There were further signs of nervous defending during the course of the 1st half which a stronger team would have exploited better, but Albion struggled to keep the ball enough to make anything from their chances.

Two moments in the next 13 minutes could have changed the rest of the game if they hadn't have gone in Mossley's favour. First, after Ossett tried to break up the home team's flow with a few trips and poor tackles, the opening goalscorer Darkwah let the frustration get to him and lunged in on a defender. I was near to it and winced from what I saw - it was dangerous and the defender was lucky to not be injured. He went down as if badly injured and handbags were thrown, but by the time the ref had calmed the situation and the player was moved to the touchline he was suddenly fine and ready to come back on. Perhaps this made the ref's mind up to just give a yellow - some might have given a red.

This was crucial for Mossley as Darkwah was their star player and an outlet for all the midfield creativity, and he scored again in the 38th minute with a goal that might not have been... the increasingly influential Joe Heap went on another run, crossed from wide left and Darkwah took the ball round the keeper and rolled it in. Except at that moment a defender charged in and cleared it - but the linesman gave the goal. From where I was stood it looked like it was cleared on the line and shouldn't have been given... but the defender who cleared it surprisingly didn't complain.

Mossley then added another on half time, a low shot from Cavell Coo on the edge of the penalty area took a deflection and nestled in the corner. 4-1 at half time, the Mossley fans were stunned!

The goals continued right at the start of the second half as Darkwah got his hat-trick - a poor backpass from the defender and a sliced clearance from the keeper gifted the ball to him. He was still at a difficult wide angle but slotted it in like it was easy. Darkwah was outstanding throughout and on this evidence Mossley will rue that it's only a month long loan of which 2 weeks have already gone (unfortunately he wasn't allowed to play in the fa cup games).

Mind you Darkwah wasn't the only one to put in a star performance here - Joe Heap, prolific for the youth team last season, put in a superb performance to show why he ought to be playing for the first team more often. He was menacing throughout with frequent runs at the defence, and in the 53rd minute he stepped up for a free kick from around 25 yards out slightly left of centre and curled it perfectly into the top right corner.

6-1 and Mossley could have had more - more chances came and went including an effort from Lee Rick from the edge of the penalty area narrowly deflected over by a defender. Lee Rick, signed from Hyde near the end of last season, was back from injury and worked well with Alex Byrne in central midfield to give Mossley a strong backbone to play around, something they've looked like they've been missing lately.

All 3 subs were made by Mossley by the 72nd minute, and unfortunately Cavell Coo was forced off injured with just over ten minutes left. The ten men were still able to create the odd chance but had long since taken their foot off the gas, and Albion got an 86th minute consolation as Marc Thompson curled a low shot into the bottom right of the goal from close range.

Full time 6-2, a morale boosting victory but against clear relegation candidates. The next two games against two teams who tend to be mid table in recent years - Garforth Town away on Tuesday night followed by Salford City at home on Saturday - will surely be a much tougher test than this.