Prestwich eased their way into the next round of the Lancashire Amateur Cup far more comfortably then the score line suggests with doubt about the outcome only briefly creeping in when the visitors snatched an unlikely 89th minute goal having been two down.
Whilst any sort of win was welcome given Prestwich’s poor start a generally lacklustre performance against their lower league opponents didn’t quite see the feel good factor restored.
It may have been different had debutante Luke Harling seen his second minute header from a Sean Haslam corner go in instead of being just tipped over the bar, but despite completely dominating the half Prestwich had to wait until the 38th minute when a fine David Prieto header from another Haslam corner finally broke Moston’s resolve.
In between the two incidents Prestwich played some really nice football, looking authoritative at the back and pushing the ball around neatly further up the pitch but a combination of poor decision making, wayward shooting and a general lack of creativity saw Moston’s packed defence keep their goal intact.
The most likely sources of a breakthrough seemed to be from one of Mike Nearys surging runs down the right or from corners and set pieces, indeed Harling had three more headers either saved or go narrowly over.
Neary made several bursts down the right with poor quality neither cross nor shot final deliveries, one in particular saw him leave four players in his wake but the pullback was just behind Dave Thompson making for an off balance shot that ballooned over.
And so in spite of their dominance there was just Prieto’s goal to give a 1-0 interval lead.
The second half continued largely in the same vein but as frustrations grew at Prestwich’s inability to put the game to bed their play became more and more ragged with players holding on to the ball trying to take on too many players and conceding possession, because of this the risk of Moston capitalizing on the break started to look much more likely.
As Prestwich juggled shape and personnel just to create a spark for that tie clinching goal, Paul Taylor was introduced, normally a centre half but on this occasion asked to lead the line. His impact was instant having served warning with one headed flick on, he held up a long ball before threading it out to Neary on the right, this time Nearys cross was pin point accurate and Taylor met the return at the back post with a bullet header into the net.
Moston’s late goal made for a nervous minute or two but in reality a comeback looked unlikely as Prestwich defence had looked comfortable throughout but for that fleeting moment and Prestwich live to fight another day in the competition.
