Beckwithshaw Saints u16s 4

Steeton u16s 3

IN what can only be described as a fiercely-contested County Cup third round cup tie in Harrogate, Steeton were narrowly defeated.

Steeton started the brightest, taking the lead with almost their first attack after three minutes. A lovely through ball by Harris Khan was neatly dispatched passed the keeper from just inside the box by top scorer Ben Sharp.

Steeton continued to dominate the opening stages going close to doubling their lead through Lewis Gardner's speculative effort following neat build up play from Joe Lee and Mark Nagy on the left.

Beckwithshaw's first chance came in the 12th minute.

An untidy challenge from Foysol Ullah, gave the hosts a free-kick right on the edge of the box.

The resulting shot just whistled past the near post wide of the goal.

Steeton then raised back up the field and, after excellent play in midfield by Barney Cope and Danny Ambler the ball fell to Ben Sharp, this time though his scuffed effort was saved by the home goalkeeper.

On 17 minutes, Joe Lee beat his man down the left wing before cutting back and delivering a lovely cross which met Sharp's head, unfortunately the header went over the bar.

Beckwithshaw equalised against the run of play. Their number 12 found some space on the edge of the box and his low drive beat Steeton goalkeeper Brad Picken low to his right to make it 1-1.

No further goals were scored in the half with both teams effectively nullifying each other.

The second half started the same as the first with Steeton again grabbing the advantage.

Lewis Gardner was fouled inside the Beckwithshaw half about 30 yards out.

Cope hit a rocket of a free-kick which hit the inside of the right-hand goal post and agonisingly ran across the goalline before rolling in.

2-1 Steeton, The young Chevron's controlled the game for a period before a match-defining crazy 10 minutes which resulted in three goals for the hosts.

The equaliser came following a strong powerful run by the Beckwithshaw left winger who stormed into the box before firing past Picken.

Two minutes later a corner wasn't dealt with properly, resulting in an unfortunate own goal to make it 3-2.

Then an unlucky deflection for a fourth goal resulting the ball spinning over Picken's head onto the crossbar before being forced home to make it 4-2.

Steeton went back at it, pulling a goal back with a header from skipper Joel Oxford, following a cross from Sam Woodward.

A frantic five minutes followed with Steeton throwing everything at the home team in search of an equaliser to no avail.