Atletico u18s 4

Steeton u18s 3

STEETON Under-18s missed out in a seven-goal thriller against Atletico.

The first quarter of the game was locked in a midfield arm wrestle for possession with both teams struggling to hold onto the ball for any significant period.

However, Steeton looked the more likely scorers. Joe Lee was put through on a couple of occasions by Harris Khan but he was denied first by the goalkeeper then by some good defending.

Steeton were knocking on the door but Atletico were holding firm.

Disappointingly, though, the home side took the lead. A fast counter attack was finished off well by the Atletico centre forward.

The home side doubled their lead minutes later. The left winger beat his man and cut inside to the edge of the box.

Some poor defending allowed the winger a free shot at goal and he beat Brad Picken with a low shot to the left-hand corner.

Steeton were now getting a little frustrated and appeared to be a bit shocked at being 2-0 down. However, this gave the home side a lift.

They were winning individual battles across the pitch and made it 3-0 just before half-time again with some poor defending from Steeton's point of view.

At half-time Steeton made four substitutions and this appeared to give them some better impetuous from the re-start.

Lewis Plumb, Lewis Gardner and Barney Cope all went close to scoring but were denied by the Atletico goalkeeper.

Then came the key moment of the game. A lovely ball over the top was played by Joe Snowden to Plumb. He met the ball just before the on rushing goalkeeper, who then collided with the centre forward.

But the referee decided it was a fair challenge and instead gave Plumb a yellow card and a 10-minute sin bin for his protests.

Steeton carried on pressing with 10 men and got their reward. Lewis Gardner beat his man on the left touchline before driving into the box and smashing passed the goalkeeper.

Steeton were now on the front foot with wave after wave of attack.

Plumb now back on the field smashed in from the edge of the box to make it 3-2.

Khan went close with a 25-yard free-kick and Snowden also nearly scored.

Atletico were now reduced to the odd counter attack. However it was one of these that led to the decisive fourth goal.

Across from the left was half cleared by Picken, but the re-bound was bundled over the line by the home side's centre forward.

Steeton bounced back on the attack, Alfie Rutherford played a nice ball to Lewis Gardner. The latter beat the full-back and broke into the box, he was then brought down by a home defender for a penalty, which Gardner took and scored.

With only four minutes of injury time remaining, Steeton continued to press for an equaliser. Louis Wasylyk, Khan and Jacob Ambler all went desperately close to scoring.