Steeton AFC v Maine Road

Recap

STEETON recorded a second victory in the space of a week with a comprehensive comeback win against bottom of the table Maine Road.

Trailing at the hour mark, and on the back of a dismal first-half display, a pulsating final half hour turned the game on its head and saw the Chevvies storm to the three points.

In truth, the home side did not come out of the starting block in the first half, and this was reflected in a dominant display by the visitors.

A string of saves from Oliver Gollcher kept Maine Road at bay before they squandered a golden opportunity to break the deadlock.

After a low block from Gollcher, the rebound fell to the feet of Jamie Schofield.

With an open goal at his mercy, the striker’s initial effort rattled the crossbar and fell back to the feet of Schofield who turned his second effort over.

Defensively at sea, it was only a matter of time before the visitors found the back of the net and they did just that on the half hour mark.

On the counter, the ball was worked to the feet of Siraj Hussein who whipped the ball from the edge of the box into the top corner.

Hussein continued to prove the biggest threat and had an opportunity to double his and his side’s tally, but left Steeton thankful that his bicycle kick went just wide moments after he hit the woodwork.

With the words of Roy Mason ringing in their ears, Steeton began the second half strongly.

Threatening an equaliser, Lewis Gartland struck the woodwork but soon found the back of the net.

Launching a counter attack of their own, Macca Smith shifted play from right to left with a lovely delivery with the outside of the boot.

The ball fell to the feet of Gartland, who turned the centre half to finish inside the near post.

This opened the game up and Steeton quickly found themselves trailing once again.

Hussein broke down the channel and forced wide, opted to lob the ball over the onrushing Gollcher.

This sparked a foot race which Schofield won ahead of Mbako Chalashika to tap home into the empty net.

Undeterred, the momentum swung instantly back in the Chevrons favour and stayed that way for the remainder of the contest.

Freed down the wing, Gartland turned on the afterburners and raced to the edge of the box.

Once there, he executed a lovely delivery across the face of goal where the onrushing Cooper Collins was on hand to score from close range.

Looking for the lead, Gartland’s deflected effort from range fell into the keeper’s grasp.

The Maine Road man however collided with the post and spilled the ball into the path of Lewis Gardner, the left-back then seeing his effort cleared off the line.

Steeton then found the lead as Gartland continued to shine.

Arley Barnes played a first time ball into the path of the winger, who broke down the wing once more and despite being forced wide fired a strike from an angle into the roof of the net.

Gardner then put the game beyond doubt with a superb individual effort.

Taking a pass on half way from Joe Edmonds, Gardner showed exceptional skill to skip through a number of challenges before coolly slotting home across the keeper from the edge of the box.

A fifth goal soon followed as Gardner again raced forward.

His strike was turned away by the outstretched foot of the keeper into the path of an unmarked Collins to fire home his second of the afternoon.

STEETON (Subs): Gollcher; M Smith; Gardner (Rose); Barnes; Shaw (J Smith); Chalashika; Holgate; Moloney (Collins); Mather (Coe); Edmonds (Strong); Gartland.

GOALS (Assists): Gartland 52’ (M Smith), 76’ (Barnes); Collins 60’ (Gartland), 87’ (Gardner); Gardner 84’ (Edmonds)