STEETON’s unbeaten run came to a crashing halt with a 3-0 defeat on the road to relegation threatened Garstang.
In a performance that manager Roy Mason described as “dismal” and “below the expectations required of the team”, the Chevrons were second best throughout the contest.
And whilst second bottom Stang closed the gap to Route One Rovers above them courtesy of their first win since October, big questions are to be asked of Steeton as they head into a tough run of fixtures against teams in around the title and play-off picture at the opposite end of the table.
The first half proved a real war of attrition in difficult conditions as the pitch continued to churn up underfoot and develop into a mud bath.
Steeton found themselves marginally second best in a half low on quality.
The only talking point from the first half came shortly after the half hour mark as Garstang thought they had broken the deadlock.
Dan Squires though found his celebrations cut short by the rising of the offside flag.
Just a minute after the restart, Garstang found the opener.
The pitch proved a leveller once more as Jacob Smith got himself stuck in the mud and lost his footing.
Wes Bajraliu took possession but still had work to do to find the goal.
And the winger did just that, stepping inside and curling the ball over the outstretched arm of Brad Emmerson into the top corner.
The visitors then thought they had levelled immediately.
Pumping the ball forward from the back, Alex Stewart controlled the ball and finished coolly into the back of the net.
However, the referee blew his whistle, and judged Stewart had handled the ball instead of taking it out the air with his chest.
This sparked furious protests from those in yellow and blue with Jake Townsend particularly vocal with his disagreement of the decision.
Steeton’s subpar second half performance did not improve on the back of this apparent injustice, and Garstang turned the screw to ease their way over the line to a valuable victory.
The second goal was a case of classic route one football.
Joel Sargent in the net for the home side pumped a goal kick high into the air and down the pitch.
The ball landed behind the Steeton defensive line with Liam Clegg reacting quickest to get in behind, position himself, and put the ball across Emmerson and inside the far post to double his side’s advantage.
Clegg would become a central figure of the piece as he then delivered two moments of madness.
The first minute saw the midfielder score his second goal of the afternoon to put the result beyond doubt.
Squires took hold of the ball on the right edge of the box and showed exceptional footwork to free himself from the interests of Jack Lynn and whip the ball across the face of goal.
Clegg found himself unmarked at the far post to nod home with ease.
He then went from hero to villain.
Just moments later, the midfielder found himself involved in a 50/50 challenge with Harvey Green.
Clearly angered by the challenge, Clegg would stamp on Green directly in front of the official to spark a coming together between the two sets of players and earn himself an early shower as the red card was produced.
Steeton’s afternoon was summed up in the 93rd minute.
Macca Smith’s cross came back from the inside of the post and, with the goalkeeper down on the ground, fell to Josh Coe who fired wide with an open goal at his mercy.
STEETON (Subs): Emmerson; M Smith; Lloyd (Lynn); Barnes; J Smith; Holgate (Mitchell); Green; Walne (Illingworth); Coe; Stewart; Townsend (Williamson)
