Steeton AFC v Skelmersdale United

Steeton AFC v Skelmersdale United

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Recap

STEETON began the new year with victory as they picked up a home win against rock bottom Skelmersdale.

In a game low on quality throughout, Roy Mason’s side extended their unbeaten run to four games as they ground out another three points to move ten clear of the bottom three.

Leaving them in good stead heading into the final ten games of the season, the Chevrons will now be looking to build on the foundations laid by the seven points won in the last week.

The game’s opening quarter did little to warm the 83 in attendance on a bitterly cold winter’s afternoon.

Steeton came closest to opening the scoring as Alex Stewart rounded the goalkeeper only to see his shot cleared off the line by a Skelmersdale defender.

The breakthrough eventually came for the hosts in the 26th minute.

Jake Townsend’s cross into the box led to a scramble with a number of bodies throwing themselves at the ball.

The ball in turn fell at the feet of Stewart, who on this occasion took his chance to score his 5th goal of the season.

Now in the lead and in the ascendency, the Chevvies continued to push forward and should have immediately doubled their lead with Josh Coe somehow missing an open goal after great work by Stewart to pounce on a loose pass and counter.

A second goal did soon follow with Townsend turning from provider to scorer.

Macca Smith drove down the right channel after a superb through ball from Josh Walne and curled the ball around the keeper.

With his strike hitting the woodwork and bouncing back to the right back’s feet, he opted to square the rebound to Townsend to finish into the empty net.

This proved to be the first half’s final piece of action and Steeton almost added a third immediately from the restart.

Again, dispossessing the defender, Stewart bared down on goal but saw his strike turned around the post by an exquisite fingertip save from Harry Roper.

Townsend’s afternoon ended soon after as the winger was forced off with a hamstring injury.

He would be replaced by Lewis Gartland, the substitute twice hitting the side netting from tight angles.

Gartland would also nearly turn provider, but his two superb deliveries saw Stewart turn the ball wide with three Steeton attackers lining up behind him.

Stewart would then volley the ball on the turn over the crossbar just moments later.

Cruelly, Gartland himself would also be forced off with a hamstring injury after just 21 minutes of action.

Fellow replacement Emerson Mitchell meanwhile found his name in the referee’s book, the midfielder receiving his ninth yellow card of the campaign following a late challenge as the visitors looked to break.

The game’s final minutes began to tick by as the sun began to set, but there was still time for both teams to find the back of the net in a hectic finish.

Steeton put the game beyond doubt with seven minutes left to play.

Owen Williamson held the ball up and fed it into the left channel directly to the feet of the onrushing Sam Lloyd.

The left back opted to shoot from range, the ball taking a wicked deflection off a defender and over the Skelmersdale keeper into the net.

Just ninety seconds later, the visitors found a consolation much to the hosts’ frustration.

With Lloyd down, the Steeton players claimed he had been fouled.

Both the referee and linesman disagreed and a pass across the face of goal was turned home at the far post by Daren Askew.

STEETON (Subs): Emmerson; M Smith; Lloyd; Barnes; Illingworth; Holgate; Walne (Williamson); J Smith (Mitchell); Stewart; Coe; Townsend (Gartland (Lynn)).

GOALS (Assists): Stewart 26’ (Townsend); Townsend 35’ (M Smith); Lloyd 83’ (Williamson)

Details

DateTimeLeagueSeason
January 4, 20253:00 pmNWCFL2024/25

Ground

Marley Stadium
Marland Road, Keighley, Riddlesden, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, BD21 4DB, United Kingdom

Results

Club1st Half2nd HalfGoals
Steeton213
Skelmersdale United011

Steeton

# PlayerPositionGoalsAssistsYellow CardsRed CardsMan of the Match
1Brad EmmersonGoalkeeper00000
2Macca SmithDefender01000
3Sam LloydDefender1 (83')0000
4Arley BarnesMidfield00000
5Dan IllingworthDefender00000
6Jacob HolgateMidfielder00000
7Josh Walne 16Defender00000
8Jacob Smith 14Defender00000
9Alex StewartDefender1 (26')0001
10Josh CoeStriker00000
11Jake Townsend 15Midfield1 (35')1000
12Jack Lynn 15Midfield00000
14Emerson Mitchell 8Midfield001 (79')00
15Lewis Gartland 12Midfield00000
16Owen Williamson 7Attacker01000