Steeton 0 Lower Hopton 1

STEETON were left to rue a couple of missed chances in a tight but pulsating game.

They were again forced into changes, with leading scorer Lee Reilly unavailable and Joe Park away. Ryan Cox and Lee Thompson came back into the side, with Tom Baker on the bench after joining from Thackley.

Andy King caused the visitors early problems on the left, despite a couple of strong challenges going unpunished.

Stephen Pearson continued where he left off the previous week, dominating aerially. With Joe Meegan sweeping up well alongside him, Hopton only had one shot of note that Sam Moore did well to grab at the second attempt.

King struck a free-kick over the bar, while Aaron Abbas forced the keeper to get down sharply to a shot from the inside of the box.

Pearson and Declan Consoli, filling in as an emergency left back, combined well to block an attempt by the visitors on the break.

The home side almost opened the scoring on the half-hour mark when Joe Mason fed Andy Holden and his deep cross was met by Thompson, whose header was just the wrong side of the bar.

Thompson’s strong running from midfield was a big feature of Steeton’s play and also the discipline showed by skipper Tim Hird allowed him to break forward at regular intervals.

The second half had barely got underway when Simeone Fletcher capitalised on a mistake and burst forward. He drew Moore before slipping the ball calmly past him.

Hopton looked for a second goal but Steeton had the best chance of the half as Holden skipped past his man and he drilled the ball hard and low across the box but King got underneath the ball and fired over.

The visitors clipped the top of the bar and Moore made a great save with his feet.

Sub Jamie Longley was unlucky with an effort on the spin and Jack Richmond, who came on for Hird, fired wide from the edge of the area.

Baker cam on for the last 15 minutes and showed some nice touches as Steeton continued with their policy of blooding youngsters.

Steeton boss Roy Mason said: "Despite the result, I was pleased with the performance. In terms of commitment the players gave me everything.

"Our back four contained three teenagers and we are gradually bringing the average age down and rebuilding. There were a lot of positives."

This week they face a trip to Kirkburton.

Steeton: Moore, J Mason, Consoli, Meegan, Pearson, Hird (Richmond), Holden, Thompson, Cox (Baker), Abbas (Longley), King.