Steeton AFC v Holker Old Boys

Recap

STEETON fell to a second consecutive defeat to begin their new campaign.

Whilst improved in terms of performance from their opening day thrashing at Daisy Hill, a lack of end product proved costly as the Chevvies failed to turn periods of domination into goals.

And they were punished by a Holker Old Boys outfit that took advantage of two chances presented to them on a plate in the first half before putting in a professional display in order to return home with the three points.

The home side were the fastest out of the traps on the night as they looked for an opener.

Jude Darko, a bright spark throughout for the men in green, saw two early chances first go wide of the post before just clearing the crossbar.

Then a moment of controversy as Keann Shaw, making his first appearance of the season following suspension, thought he had opened the evening’s scoring.

From a lovely Haroon Salah delivery, Shaw came round the back of the defender to meet the ball with a lovely, cushioned header that curled inside the far post from the edge of the six yard box.

However, the linesman flagged for offside much to the bemusement and anger of those on and off the pitch of a Steeton persuasion.

Salah created an opportunity for himself as he won the ball inside his own half before skipping through a number of challenges, cutting in from the wing, and seeing a wonderful solo effort tipped wide of the post by the Holker goalkeeper.

Then came the moment that changed the game as the visitors broke the deadlock against the run of play.

A long ball forward from the back created confusion within the Steeton ranks as Darko and Josh Coe collided, challenging for the same ball.

Brandon Collins took possession and under pressure, managed to get a shot off from the edge of the area.

The ball managed to go through the hand of Oliver Gollcher in the Steeton goal and find its way into the top corner.

From the restart, the Old Boys almost immediately doubled their lead from a counter, but a deflection took it wide into the side netting.

Holker would double their lead shortly before the half-time interval.

Taking advantage of a heavy touch on the halfway line from Coe, the visitors fed the ball forward to the feet of Tyler Spence.

Spence got himself between the back four and the goalkeeper and, noticing Gollcher well off his line, slid the ball into the space behind the Steeton number one and with it the back of the net.

The second half saw the visitors happy to soak up Steeton pressure and attempt to hit on the counter in an attempt to put the game to bed with a third goal.

Salah and Coe both had chances to half the deficit, the former seeing a header go narrowly wide before the latter had his strike blocked by some heroic last ditch defending on the penalty spot.

Things had begun to heat up in the rain as Shaw and Collins exchanged unpleasantries on the deck following a heavy challenge but both avoided punishment as the referee was happy to give both a stern ticking off.

Holker should have put the came to bed with fifteen minutes remaining with a free header from Luke Mitchell rattling the crossbar from a corner.

Then Gollcher was again caught off his line, fortunately a lobbed effort from Tom Dawson dipped just over the crossbar and behind the goal which proved to be the last real chance of the evening.

STEETON (Subs): Gollcher; M Smith; Asamoah (Terrelonge-Jones); Storton; Shaw; Bishop (Spence); Darko; Salah (Mullins); Coe; Abbas; Dowden. Subs (Not Used): Aremu; Foley.