STEETON suffered defeat in the cruellest of circumstances on the wrong side of a seven-goal thriller with Darwen.
Playing the last half hour with ten men on the back of a controversial red card, the Chevrons’ resolve was finally broken in the final ten minutes.
And despite a valiant showing in a pulsating end-to-end affair, not even a share of spoils was to be had although manager Roy Mason stated he was proud of his players efforts.
The Chevvies started the evening brightly as they looked to respond from the weekend’s disappointing performance.
Kevin Gonazlez and Macca Smith both had chances to break the deadlock but their efforts went the wrong side of the woodwork.
Against the run of play, it would be Darwen who found the opening goal of what developed into a chaotic evening’s entertainment.
Kit Lloyd drove forward after winning possession and saw his shot turned away, however the ball fell into the path of the supporting Kalvin Morris to smash home.
As half-time approached, the hosts levelled in similar circumstances to how they had conceded.
Working the ball through the channels, Gonzalez saw his initial effort turned away by Louis Hood.
Macca Smith followed the ball at the far post and placed the ball into the back of the net and erased the visitor’s advantage.
The second-half proved an eventful affair as shown by a chaotic four minute spell shortly after the restart in which the two sides exchanged three goals.
Steeton fired the first shot as a cleverly worked quick free-kick routine allowed Josh Coe to find Dan Smith in space down the left channel and the latter fired into the bottom corner from the edge of the area for his first goal in Chevron colours.
Darwen levelled immediately from the restart.
Opting to play a long ball over the top, the home side failed to clear their line and Morris hit a half volley to register his second strike of the evening.
Just two minutes later, the home side again took the lead.
From a corner, Macca Smith’s in-swinging delivery was met by the head of Nathan Storton, the centre half turning the ball into the back of the net from close range.
Then on the hour mark came the turning point of the encounter.
Already on a yellow card, Gonzalez turned his back to play and looked to get back into position.
A Darwen player smashed an alleged quick free-kick into the striker from close range with the referee playing the fool by falling for this act of gamesmanship and brandishing a second yellow, followed by the red, to the anger of all those in green.
Steeton had a chance to put some breathing space between themselves and their visitors, but the effort was cleared off the line.
The visitors thought they had their equaliser, but the linesman’s offside flag cut short any celebrations from Dan Taylor.
Then with ten minutes on the clock, Darwen found their equaliser as Gary Basterfield saw his corner go straight into the back of the net.
Now level, the visitors looked for the winning goal and found it with three minutes of regulation time remaining after Josh Coe was denied by a last ditch tackle.
Kit Lloyd took possession of the ball and after glancing up a goal, his rocket of a shot from range agonisingly beat Brad Emmerson and hit the back of the net.
Steeton believed they should have been given a late opportunity to snatch a point, but the official waved away a strong penalty appeal after a foul inside the area went unpunished.
STEETON (Subs): Emmerson; M Smith (Terrelonge). Dowden; Storton; Shaw; Spence; Darko (Aremu); Edmonds; Coe; Gonzalez; D Smith. Subs (Not Used): Abbas; Salah; Asamoah.
GOALS (Assist): M Smith 41’ (Gonzalez); D Smith 54’ (Coe); Storton 57’ (M Smith)
