STEETON exited the Macron Cup at the Second Round stage with a narrow home loss to Nelson.
In a pulsating end-to-end encounter at Marley, the Chevrons continued to show signs of their recent improvements but in the end were undone by two goals in six second half minutes.
Despite defeat, Roy Mason took the positives from the performance against an in-form team heading into a free weekend before a return to league action in a six pointer away at Garstang a week on Saturday.
Steeton came firing out of the traps and almost took the lead in the opening seconds of the encounter.
Feeding the ball down the right channel, Macca Smith drove into the box and saw a strike hit the underside of the crossbar and bounce back away from goal.
Just minutes later, the home side found the breakthrough.
Taking possession inside the Nelson half, Harvey Green unlocked the Nelson defensive line with an exquisite through ball into the path of Macca Smith.
The right back whipped a ball across the face of goal towards the far post where Josh Debenham was on hand to lose his man and tap the ball into the back of the net.
Continuing on the front foot, the Chevrons nearly doubled their lead as Macca Smith broke the offside trap.
His chip over the onrushing Nelson keeper bounced agonisingly wide of the far post.
Being on the back foot for the game’s opening twenty minutes, the visitors found an equaliser against the run of play.
Working the ball into the Steeton box, a moment lapse in concentration allowed Jamie Edwards through on goal to finish and bring the sides level.
Now on the backfoot, Mason’s side found themselves temporarily reduced to ten men when Dan Illingworth’s protests against the awarding of a corner resulting in the defender being sin binned.
The second half almost began with a dream start for the away side but with an open goal at their mercy, the ball was somehow fired over the crossbar from the edge of the six-yard box.
Nelson looked to take the lead but were denied by a phenomenal Brad Emmerson save.
An attempted block deflected into the path of Charlie Frost, his shot from point blank range was stopped and turned away on the line by a powerful hand of Emmerson.
This proved a temporary respite, as the visitors would take the win and progression to the Third Round with two goals in the space of six minutes.
The first of these two goals mirrored the Nelson equaliser as the Steeton defence was caught napping allowing Jack Doherty to take full advantage and put the ball away from close range.
Jude Entwistle then ended the game as a contest.
Freshly introduced of the bench, the England youth international turned home a cross from the right channel despite the best efforts of Illingworth to clear.
With the game petering out, a challenge from Lewis Gartland lit the fuse as the two sets of players came together in the corner resulting in Gartland being shown a yellow card just minutes after a trip also earned fellow substitue Emerson Mitchell a mark in the referee’s book.
Deep into injury time, Macca Smith found himself felled inside the Nelson area as two visiting defenders came across the forward looking to block the shot after he made a marauding run towards goal.
The referee eventually pointed to the spot after a moment’s hesitation.
Josh Coe took possession of the ball and sent the keeper the wrong way, but it proved too little and too late for Steeton.
STEETON (Subs): Emmerson; M Smith; Lloyd (Williamson); Barnes; Illingworth; Holgate (Mitchell); Green (Whitworth); J Smith; Debenham (Shillito); Coe; Townsend (Gartland).
GOALS (Assists): Debenham 4’ (M Smith); Coe 90+8’ (M Smith)
