Salts 1 Steeton 0

STEETON bowed out of the competition they reached the Elland Road final of last season with a 1-0 defeat at neighbours Salts in the third round of the West Riding County FA Challenge Cup.

The poor standard of the Marley playing surface turned the encounter into a scrappy, uninspiring one, and Salts will no doubt be glad to return to their permanent home next season.

Steeton manager Roy Mason made two changes to the side that defeated Salts 4-0 in the league the previous week, with Matty Kershaw and Ryan Cox replacing the absent Michael Rhodes and Tim Hird.

Steeton had the first real chance of the game after four minutes when Graham Holmes fed Damien Whiteoak and the Steeton skipper struck narrowly over the bar.

Soon after, under pressure from Holmes, a Salts defender knocked the ball back to his keeper’s hands in what many felt was a back pass, but the referee disagreed.

The bumpy, muddy playing surface was not conducive to the passing football Steeton have employed to great effect on the bowling green surface at Summerhill Lane.

It wasn’t until the half-hour mark that Steeton forced the home keeper into action, when a Mark McGee shot forced an excellent save.

From the resulting corner, Steeton failed to convert a couple of half chances but were soon attacking again as Ryan Cox fired just wide from 25 yards.

With half-time approaching, Andy Holden danced past two defenders and fed Holmes, who won a free-kick when in all honesty he looked to have slipped. The kick was put just wide by Andy Holden.

Holmes then went close with a powerful strike but the ball was beaten away for a corner.

Two minutes into the second half, McGee showed his skill with some fine footwork in the box and fed Whiteoak, whose shot forced a good save at the near post.

Holden then intercepted the ball in his own half and drove forward before passing to Lee Reilly. Reilly’s shot had the keeper beaten and looked to have handed Steeton the lead, only for the ball to cannon back off the crossbar.

The referee, who had a pretty good match and kept up with play well, showed the first yellow card of the game to Salts’ Sam Waterhouse, who felt aggrieved to have been booked when Steeton’s Arley Barnes had arguably got away with a far worse tackle just moments before.

He was soon joined in the referee’s notebook by Steeton left back Joe Park, who, after making a good initial tackle, tripped his opponent as he sought to get back to his feet.

Just after the hour mark Salts finally broke the deadlock through Waterhouse, whose shot to Josh Brooksbank’s right had the Steeton stopper rooted to the spot.

The goal seemed to knock the wind out of Steeton’s sails, and the strength-sapping pitch didn’t help.

With ten minutes to go, centre back Sam Rooke was pushed up front as Steeton switched to a 3-4-3 formation, and reserve-team captain Jack Richmond was handed his first-team debut in place of Ryan Cox.

Two minutes later, after being booked for his role in a tangle with a defender, Holden was replaced by Josh Metcalfe.

Despite these changes, Steeton couldn’t get back into game and Salts hung on to progress to the last 16.

Steeton return to league action on Saturday with a tough home tie against leaders Golcar United, who have conceded just eight goals on their way to winning all 13 of their league games this season. Kick-off is 2pm.

Steeton: Brooksbank, Kershaw, Park, Barnes, Rooke, Whiteoak (Richmond), Holden (Metcalfe), Cox, Reilly, Holmes, McGee. Sub (not used): Robinson.