STEETON bounced back from their midweek disappointment in emphatic fashion as they easily dispatched of Squires Gate.
Dominant and in control of the game from the first whistle until the last, it was a polar opposite to the performance they had delivered just up the Fylde Coast at Thornton Cleveleys on Wednesday.
And with three new signings bolstering the ranks, manager Roy Mason wants to use this performance as a launching pad for the Chevrons season.
The visitors got off to the best possible start as they broke the deadlock inside the opening sixty seconds.
Kevin Gonzalez, on debut following his arrival on dual-registration from Silsden, made an instant impact as he muscled off a Squires man and provided a superb through ball into the path of Josh Coe.
Coe struck the ball with his first touch and fired his strike into the roof of the goal.
Squires were denied an immediate equaliser as Brad Emmerson produced an outstanding double save.
Diving low at his near post to deny Jack Arrowsmith, he recovered to get across goal and also turn away the follow-up effort from Jake Forshaw.
Jack Coop was then denied for the hosts as Emmerson turned his initial strike away with his second attempt cleared off the line by Macca Smith.
Steeton got back on top of their opposition and quickly doubled their lead.
Gonzalez turned goalscorer, smashing his strike in off the underside of the crossbar after Alfie Dowden won possession back in his own half and sent debutant Dan Smith free down the left channel to deliver the cross.
Now with a two goal advantage, the Chevvies pushed for a third before half-time.
The Gate keeper made a string of fine saves to keep Coe and Gonzalez at bay with a last ditch defensive block denied Dan Smith a debut goal of his own.
Then shortly before the break, Macca Smith saw his cross-cum-shot with the outside of his foot just bend agonisingly the wrong side of the post.
Steeton started the second half still on the front foot and Dan Smith’s scissor kick early in the piece was turned away by a great fingertip save by the Squires keeper.
The home side then had two great chances to get themselves back into the contest with Coop hitting the side netting before Arrowsmith’s chance was cleared off the line superbly by Arley Barnes.
It proved to be nothing more than a mere nuisance for the visitors as Steeton got back into the ascendency.
They nearly extended their lead in bizarre circumstances as the home side stopped believing they had won a throw.
Dowden played to the whistle and played Gonzalez through on goal, the striker’s effort flashing across the face of goal and only just missing the outstretched foot of the onrushing Coe.
The third goal would come midway through the second half as the result was put beyond doubt.
Dan Smith won the ball on halfway and made a marauding run through the parting blue shirts in front of him.
His shot was deflected into the path of the supporting Jude Darko who registered his first Steeton goal with an effort into the roof of the net.
From this point, there was a feeling every Steeton attack would result in a fourth goal.
And the fourth goal came shortly before the end of regulation time.
Adam Terrelonge was denied by a last ditch tackle, but Mason’s men kept the attack alive.
Coe shifted the ball wide to Macca Smith, who skipped through an attempted challenge before firing across the keeper and inside the far post.
STEETON (Subs): Emmerson; M Smith; Dowden; Barnes; Storton; Spence (Salah); Darko; Terrelonge (Mulvihill-Simpson); Coe; Gonzalez (Abbas); D Smith (Asamoah). Sub (Not Used): Aremu
GOALS (Assist): Coe 1’ (Gonzalez); Gonzalez 17’ (D Smith); Darko 65’ (D Smith); M Smith 86’ (Coe)
