Steeton AFC v Daisy Hill

Recap

STEETON shared the spoils with Daisy Hill as a 1-1 draw brought the curtain down on 2024 at Marley Stadium.

Roy Mason, who praised the togetherness and spirit of his squad, contested an end-to-end encounter with the play-off chasing Cutters in their final home fixture of the calendar year.

Despite a draw being the fairest result on the day, both will have felt they squandered enough chances to take all three points.

After frantic opening exchanges with both teams having half chances, the visitors believed they had opened the scoring.

From a corner, Jake O’Brien believed he had beaten Brad Emmerson and put the ball over the line.

Despite protests from those in the blue, both the referee and linesman were unfazed and judged the ball was cleared off the line.

The home side then thought they had found the afternoon’s opener as the wind caught an Alex Stewart free kick with the ball bouncing back off the crossbar.

With the half hour mark now passed, Steeton broke the deadlock.

Macca Smith sent a throw back to the feet of Arley Barnes, the Chevron skipper whipping an outstanding ball to the edge of the area.

Following the ball through the sky, Josh Coe showed spectacular neck strength to power a looping header over a planted Morgan Newns and into the top corner of the goal from eighteen yards.

Shortly after the restart, Steeton had a golden chance to double their advantage when Josh Walne beat the offside trap.

Through on goal in a one-on-one situation, his first effort struck the legs of the keeper before the rebound was shanked well wide much to the disbelief of those in green and white.

And Daisy Hill wasted no time in punishing the hosts for squandering the opportunity by levelling just minutes later.

Working the ball towards the edge of the area, Sam Twist managed to get a shot off on goal.

Despite the effort appearing to be a tame one, the ball managed to squeeze under the diving body of Emmerson and roll into the back of the net.

Steeton nearly retook their lead midway through the half from a free kick.

The delivery caused chaos within the Daisy Hill box, the visiting defence managing to hold out with a Coe header cleared off the line before Barnes put his strike at the far post over the crossbar.

Amongst the madness, Walne clashed heads with Scott Johnston, and this resulted in his first start since his return to Steeton ending with him departing the fray on the advice of the physio.

This proved to be the first of two enforced changes from Mason as Sam Lloyd was also forced off with a hamstring injury minutes later.

Johnston meanwhile carried on and his contribution kept them level, making an outstanding last-ditch tackle to deny Josh Debenham from an exquisite Jacob Holgate through ball.

The visitors thought they had won the game in the dying minutes of normal time.

Hitting the hosts on the counter, the ball fell into the path of Alex Dodd just mere yards out from goal.

Emmerson though proved the hero of the hour, making an unbelievable save to turn the ball away from goal and out for a corner.

Just seconds later, again on the counter, Dec Baldwin found a free header inside the Chevrons box but put his attempt from pinpoint range over the crossbar.

There was a further point saving masterstroke from a goalkeeper at the opposite end in injury time, Newns making an exceptional save to tip Lewis Gartland’s goal bound effort around his near post.

STEETON (Subs): Emmerson; M Smith; Lloyd (Lynn); Barnes; Illingworth; Holgate; Walne (Gartland); Stewart; Debenham; Coe; Townsend (Mitchell). Subs (Not Used): Williamson; J Smith.

GOAL (Assist): Coe 34’ (Barnes)