Steeton u18s 1

Westwood u18s 2

THE young Chevrons suffered defeat in their opening game of the season in a close encounter at Summerhill Lane.

Steeton started the game well, playing some excellent attacking football in the process.

The only surprise was that it took so long for them to take the lead.

The Westwood keeper was in great form saving shot after shot, if it wasn’t for him and the woodwork, Steeton could have been 5-4 to the good in the opening 20 minutes.

When the goal finally came it was a tremendous left-footed low drive into the bottom left of the net from the edge of the box from Barney Cope.

Steeton were dominating possession with Westwood seemingly happy to play a more direct style of football which with the Steeton defence, led by Foysol Ullah, providing stubborn resistance keeping the visitors' chances to a minimum.

With five minutes to go before the break, Westwood equalised. The ball was crossed in from the right-hand side which looked to be going harmlessly out for a dead ball. However, in a moment of lost concentration, the Steeton defence seemed to switch off and the ball was hooked into the net from a tight angle at the back post.

Westwood started the better in the second half, seemingly buoyed by the equalising goal just before the interval.

Steeton appeared to have weathered the early storm and normal service was then resumed with Steeton controlling possession and creating chances to re-take the lead but being denied again by the Westwood keeper.

With Steeton looking like only winners, Westwood took the lead.

A long ball over the top by caused confusion in the home defence with the Steeton keeper mis-timing his run and colliding with the Westwood striker bringing him down for a penalty.

The spot-kick was dispatched into the bottom left corner to give the visitors a 2-1 lead with 10 minutes to go.

To their credit Steeton kept going to the end and nearly got a dramatic late equaliser when Cope's 25-yard strike beat the Westwood goalkeeper only to be denied by the crossbar.