Lepton Highlanders 1 Steeton 4

STEETON came back with the West Riding County Amateur League Premier Division points following a last-minute patchwork job on the team.

Late call offs meant that assistant manager Adam Smith was forced into his first start for Steeton in over ten years as an emergency centre half and after an impressive few games for the reserves, Will Knight was handed a debut alongside Lee Reilly in the Steeton attack.

The game understandably was a bit scrappy in the opening minutes with the best of the opening chances falling to Ben Richardson whose run through the middle left him on a one on one with the keeper, but his effort just dropped over the crossbar.

Wayne Mahomet did well to get to a shot that look destined for the top corner and Steeton scrambled the resulting corner away.

The breakthrough came on the half hour as Jonson Butterfield's in swinging corner was met by Knight whose header from close range gave Steeton the lead they deserved.

The home side continued to look to hit Steeton with the long ball and both Smith and skipper, Michael Rhodes looked composed at the back.

The second goal came when Tim Hird picked the ball up in midfield and fed Morgan who’s quick cross found Lee Reilly who volleyed home his 199th goal for the club.

The second half saw the home side start to pile on the pressure and Steeton struggled to get out of their half.

Mason did well to block a goalbound effort and Rhodes was on hand to mop up on the rare occasion that Lepton looked dangerous.

The home side did get back into the game when a cross was deflected by Mahomet onto the unfortunate Smith who couldn’t adjust his feet and the ball cannoned off his knee into the net.

The home side then pushed forward and Steeton replaced Smith with Ben Clarkson and dropped Knight into the back four.

Clarkson’s pace started to cause a few problems. With 15 minutes remaining a great ball from Andy Holden found Reilly on the left-hand corner of the box.

He dropped his shoulder and rifled a shot into the top corner to claim his 200th goal for the club to give Steeton a bit more breathing space.

Reilly jinked past two players a few minutes later to calmly claim his hat-trick and round off the day in style.

Next week Steeton face Golcar at Summerhill Lane (2.30pm).