Castle travelled north to Greater Manchester to play Mossley AFC in what was yet another vital game for the club in our pursuit of moving away from the 3rd from the bottom spot.
Ellis Jones, on loan from Port Vale, come in for the absent Luke Dennis and this was the only personnel change from the previous week's game.
Both sides spent the first 10 minutes getting to grips with the game and despite Mossley getting an early corner it was Castle with the first break after Ethan Vale broke the play up and linked up with Lovatt who played back to Vale for him to feed in Eden Bailey who had broken clear but the recovering defender managed to get the ball clear for a corner.
It was Castle who took the lead on 12 minutes after a foul on Ethan Vale resulted in a deep delivery from him to the back post where James Askey headed back across goal for Eden Bailey to head home his first goal for the club and give us the lead.
After the goal both sides played very much ping pong football with the ball going from box to box with Castle creating movement and getting corners but no final ball into the box and Mossley playing wide but with delivery into the box dealt with by the Castle back line.
Then after a corner on 32 minutes, James Askey pulled up with what appeared to be a hamstring injury and was replaced by Max Chimenes and the pack was reshuffled a little.
The changes did not affect Castle and on 39 minutes Castel was awarded a freekick for a foul deep in their own half and the ball was played forward by Slinn. Mossley failed to clear and it fell to Jack van der Laan who powered a shot in from just outside the area and past the Mossley keeper to extend the Castle lead.
With a two-goal cushion Castle continued to dominate the half and get the ball forward with Bailey and Lovatt causing all sorts of issues for the Mossley backline
Half Time
Mossley AFC 0-2 Newcastle Town
Mossley got the second half underway and were at the races from the off getting the ball forward on every opportunity looking in search of getting back into the game.
Castle's first chance of the half come from a freekick which was played across to Lovatt whose effort was saved by the keeper. Mossley's onslaught continued for a good 10 minute period but Ellis Jones on his debut was up for the task and thwarted them on many occasions playing in what was now looking like a settled back line despite the shifting that had been required and only meeting the squad earlier in the week.
Castle has another great chance on 63 minutes to extend the lead when Conlon's long ball into Lovatt was well taken by Jake and he got into the box but his shot was just over the bar.
With 75 of the game played, Castle were very much in control of the game, not allowing Mossley to get shots off and thwarting every attempt they had as well as still playing the style of football we have come custom to here at Castle this season with Bailey and Lovatt now linking up with Chimenes getting the ball into pockets of the Mossley defence but the resulting shots were just not finding the target. The middle three of Ethan Vale and Jack and Tommy van der Laan were also on point with the link-up play between the blues back and frontlines.
With minutes of regulation left it was all the Lillywhites with the ball and Castle now with some tired legs and changes on the pitch were getting barrage and barrage of attacks from the home side. It was dead on the 90 that Mossley got a goal back in the game a ball over the top and Bannister run in and managed to break the resolve of Castle's backline and score what at the time you felt would be a consolation goal.
Now deep into the injury time, Mossley had back to back corners which Castle stood strong too, a ball was cleared long and then pinged back into the Castle box which resulted in what feels like Mossley's 20th corner of the game, the resulting corner was a low drive into the box and not dealt with and cleared resulting in a little scramble in the box and the ball played across to Fawns who was unmarked at the back stick and fired a low shot into the bottom corner of the net for an equaliser and heartbreak for Castle who had stood so strong to Mossley all second half.
And that was that the ref blew his whistle once again in the game to call time and both sides shared the points.
Full Time
Mossley AFC 2-2 Newcastle Town
Castle now look to dust off, rest up and get ready for what is a crucial game for more than just points reasons next weekend vs Glossop North End
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