STEETON fell to a fourth consecutive defeat in an ill-tempered affair away at Ashton Town.
A ferocious first half, with plenty of talking points, came to a boil in injury time on an afternoon which ended with the referee distributing three red cards.
This left manager Roy Mason bemoaning his side’s ill discipline but full of praise for their fight and determination, even though his side drew another blank in front of goal.
In truth, Steeton were on the back foot within the first minute after a disastrous start saw them concede the first goal after just 50 seconds.
Winning a free kick from the kick-off, the hosts worked the ball to the feet of Leon Wright.
The right back whipped a cross to the back post where Michael Howard rose highest to head home and break the deadlock.
Ashton had several opportunities to double their lead but were denied by a Jacob Holgate clearance of the line and a string of impressive saves from Brad Emmerson.
At the other end, Steeton squandered a great chance to level as Jake Townsend rounded the keeper but his square pass to Josh Debenham was weak and easily cleared.
The visitors then found themselves presented with the opportunity to level from the spot.
Josh Debenham was tripped inside the box and the referee awarded the foul.
A lengthy deal ensued as Debenham dusted himself off, the striker however was denied by Kyle Trennery with the Ashton keeper tipping the ball onto the post.
There was a shout for another penalty as Debenham saw a defender go through him from behind at the rebound, but the referee waved the appeals away.
This lit the fuse as the remainder of the first half was mired by a number of unsavoury incidents.
The first was a coming together between Townsend and Michael Burke which resulted in the Steeton skipper seeing a yellow card.
Holgate was caught on the follow through on halfway to level the yellow card count. with tempers then flaring on the sidelines.
Mason and his counterpart came to verbal blows, fuel being poured onto the fire by two members of the Ashton backroom staff located behind the dugouts in the gantry.
And on the brink of the break, the rising tensions finally reached fever pitch.
Wright caught Emerson Mitchell high whilst attempting to win the ball as it bounced into the air.
This sparked a reaction from the Steeton players, Sam Lloyd racing thirty yards to push Wright to the ground and a melee ensued.
Both Wright and Lloyd would receive red cards.
Steeton then thought they had the leveller, but the linesman judged that Debenham’s header from close range had not crossed the line.
It didn’t end there however, as the two sets of players clashed twice more.
The first came on the sound of the half time whistle after Jacob Smith and Chris Lomax clashed in the air on the edge of the Steeton area.
In turn, this would spill over into the tunnel area as the Ashton chairman unnecessarily injected himself into the chaos sparking further reactions and coming togethers between the two sets of players.
The second half in turn proved to be a quieter affair.
Steeton saw another chance to draw level go begging as Debenham raced through on goal and was denied by another great Trennery stop.
Two quick-fire yellow cards for defender Dan Illingworth then saw the Chevvies reduced to nine men.
Immediately after his dismissal, the game was put beyond doubt as George Lomax found himself unmarked in the box to head home for Town.
STEETON (Subs): Emmerson; Lynn; Lloyd; Illingworth; J Smith; Holgate (Fleming); Mitchell (Green); Williamson (Gartland); Coe; Debenham; Townsend (Gomersall)
