STEETON will be glad to see the back of a disappointing January after they were thrashed 5-1 at promotion-chasing Holker Old Boys in the NWCFL First Division North on Saturday.

Forced to put out an SOS for a goalkeeper for the second time this season after an injury to Stuart Cross, Tom Simpson was handed arguably the toughest debut imaginable, with the gale-force winds in Cumbria putting the game out of the Chevrons’ reach in the space of four first-half minutes.

The visitors held out until Gareth Smith’s inswinging corner found the back of the net in the 16th minute, but when Jason Walker was played through to tap home from the restart, there only looked like being one winner.

Walker then added his second on the 20-minute mark before Brandon Collins’ wind-assisted screamer four minutes before the break heaped more misery on a torrid first half for Steeton.

Attacking downhill after the interval suited the Chevrons better, but they were again undone by a through ball as Collins ran 30 yards before slotting past Simpson.

Luke Baldwin’s long-range strike for the visitors at 5-0 down proving to be a mere consolation goal on an awful afternoon for Roy Mason’s side.

Steeton had won their last two outings at Rakesmoor Lane, but playing downwind, Holker started the match on the front foot.

They tested debutant Simpson inside the opening 10 minutes with several corners that sailed narrowly over the bar.

At the other end, the strong winds were making it near-impossible for Steeton to put a pass together, and they could have no complaints about falling behind with 16 minutes on the clock.

Smith delivered a teasing corner to the near post which caught the wind before being palmed by Simpson, who fractured his finger in the process, into the roof of the net.

Holker fortuitously scored their second in as many minutes from the restart, with Walker latching onto a through ball from the back to slot past the Steeton stopper, albeit from what appeared to be an offside position.

But the damage was already done, with another corner putting the game out of the Chevrons’ reach in the 20th minute, Walker unable to believe his luck after being left unchallenged to poke the ball home at the near post.

As the visitors looked to limit their losses, the already atrocious conditions worsened, with many left wondering how the match was not abandoned.

On a rare foray forward, Steeton won a free-kick down the right-wing, with the wind catching Toby Jeffrey’s delivery so much that the ball flew backwards and out of play.

But that proved to be as good as it got for the visitors, with Collins scoring the pick of the goals with a sensational curling effort from the edge of the box four minutes before the break.

Holker did have the ball in the back of the net for a fifth time before the interval, but thankfully for those in luminous yellow, it was ruled out for offside.

After a few choice words were exchanged between the officials and the Steeton bench at the interval, the floodgates threatened to open again when Collins scored his second with 59 minutes gone.

Just seconds after a Holker forward had somehow hit the crossbar with only Simpson to beat, Collins beat the offside trap to run 30 yards before calmly firing under the onrushing goalkeeper.

The Chevrons responded by introducing Cain Tailford and debutant Marshall Getty from the bench and scored a consolation three minutes later.

Josh McKiernon exchanged passes with Kayle Price and Mo Farhan Subhani before feeding Baldwin down the left for him to fire across the goal and into the bottom corner.

Getty came close to opening his account with a long-range strike, but the Chevrons were comfortably second best, and in truth, deserved nothing from the game.

With the sides around them picking up points, Steeton are now just three points above the relegation zone, ahead of a must-win match against Daisy Hill at Marley on Saturday (kick-off 3pm).