Steeton AFC v Euxton Villa


Recap
STEETON picked up their first three points in the league since August with a hard-fought victory over play-off hopefuls Euxton Villa.
In a closely fought game, which spilled over in injury time, a first half brace from in-form Josh Debenham was enough to see the Chevrons over the line.
And it proved an important victory for Roy Mason and his side ahead of next Saturday’s visit of title chasing Droylsden with the teams around them at the foot of the table also picking up wins.
Steeton came flying out of the gate in the games early exchanges with a brilliantly applied press leading to getting on the front foot in attack.
However, the closest they got to the breakthrough was a Arley Barnes header that dipped over the visitors bar.
At the other end, Euxton came close to landing the first blow themselves but were denied by debutant Brad Emmerson as the keeper turned the strike over for a corner.
The home side were then gifted the afternoon’s opening goal.
Jack Lynn took a routine throw deep inside the Euxton half and looked to reach the penalty box.
The ball was in the air, yet Euxton defender Cameron Ross decided to barge through the back of Debenham in direct view of the referee, leaving him no option but to award a penalty.
Despite the best efforts of those in blue to delay the taking of the spot kick and distract the striker, he blocked out the noise around him to send the keeper the wrong way and score for a fourth consecutive game.
Now in the lead, the Chevrons grew in confidence and continued to ask questions of a Euxton defence that seemed to be struggling under pressure.
A further breakthrough came just on the brink of the break as Alex Stewart fed a sublime through ball between the centre halves and into the path of Debenham.
The forward finished first time inside the near post to double both his, and his side’s, tally for the afternoon.
Euxton found a foothold to get back into the contest on the hour mark.
Barnes cleared off the line before two heroic blocks kept the visitors out.
They eventually found the way through as Dan Singleton managed to get the ball over Emmerson in the Steeton goal and it creeped in despite the efforts of Lynn on the line.
Just a minute later, the visitors nearly restored the hosts two goal deficit, but Oliver Lombard was quick to spare the blushes of Matty Westwell after a misplaced back pass very nearly crept over the line.
Looking to freshen things up, Mason introduced Emerson Mitchell as one of four changes, but the substitute made the wrong sort of impact.
Frustrated with a decision from the linesman just 90 seconds after his introduction, Mitchell was sent to the sinbin with the referee deeming the dissent to have crossed the line.
With Villa still chasing the equaliser in injury-time, a late challenge on Lewis Swarbrick from Jacob Smith sparked a 20-man melee.
The officials took stock of the chaos that unfolded in front of them, issuing a straight red card for Ross with the visitors centre half deemed to have headbutted Smith.
Smith himself was shown a yellow card for the tackle that lit the fuse.
Despite being a man down, Euxton created a chance in the 9th minute of injury time to equalise.
But Emmerson, impressive on debut in goal after joining from Campion prior to the game, took the ball in the air to spark scenes of jubilation amongst those in green and white.
STEETON (Subs): Emmerson; Lynn; Lloyd; Barnes; Illingworth; Holgate; Green (J Smith); A Stewart (Mitchell); Debenham (McNally); Williamson (Coe); Gartland (Townsend).
GOALS (Assists): Debenham 38’ (Lynn), 45+1’ (A Stewart)
Details
Date | Time | League | Season |
---|---|---|---|
October 26, 2024 | 3:00 pm | NWCFL | 2024/25 |
Results
Club | 1st Half | 2nd Half | Goals |
---|---|---|---|
Steeton | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Euxton Villa | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Steeton
# | Player | Position | Goals | Assists | Yellow Cards | Red Cards | Man of the Match |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Brad Emmerson | Goalkeeper | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2 | Jack Lynn | Midfield | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
3 | Sam Lloyd | Defender | 0 | 0 | 1 (90') | 0 | 0 |
4 | Arley Barnes | Midfield | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
5 | Dan Illingworth | Defender | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
6 | Jacob Holgate | Midfielder | 0 | 0 | 1 (89') | 0 | 0 |
7 | Harvey Green 14 | Midfield | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
8 | Lewis Gartland 12 | Midfield | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
9 | Josh Debenham 17 | Striker | 2 (38', 45') | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
10 | Owen Williamson 15 | Attacker | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
11 | Alex Stewart 16 | Defender | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
12 | Jake Townsend 8 | Midfield | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
14 | Jacob Smith 7 | Defender | 0 | 0 | 1 (90') | 0 | 0 |
15 | Josh Coe 10 | Striker | 0 | 0 | 1 (90') | 0 | 0 |
16 | Emerson Mitchell 11 | Midfield | 0 | 0 | 1 (78') | 0 | 0 |
17 | Private: Nicky McNally 9 | Striker | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |