STEETON succumbed to defeat on the road, going down 3-2 at the hands of West Yorkshire rivals Shelley in the North West Counties Football League First Division North.

Despite leading on two separate occasions, an under-par performance by the Chevvies left a lot to be desired and ensured Roy Mason was understandably angry with his players.

It was a tough end to the week for Steeton, who have also seen two of their main men, Manny Amole and Raeece Ellington, depart the club for pastures new.

As for Saturday, in the first half, Steeton created a number of chances but failed to turn them into goals, a common theme for them this season.

Early opportunities fell to both Josh McKiernon and Jordan Townend, McKiernon seeing his strike go just over the bar and Townend having his effort deflected wide for a corner.

But that corner led to another, which brought with it the afternoon’s opening goal.

Jake Townsend whipped the ball in towards the near post, the bounce falling into the path of Josh Walne.

The defender promptly smashed the ball into the roof of the net for his first goal since joining the club last season.

That lead only lasted for three minutes however.

Shelley fed the ball up the wing and put a cross towards the edge of the six-yard area where Dan Lockwood found himself unmarked to turn a free header past James Catlow to level up the scores.

The hosts escaped a penalty appeal when Mo Farhan Subhani was seemingly tripped inside the box, as Steeton continued to pressure without reward.

Louis Fialdini found space between the centre halves, but his strike was saved by the keeper, before Josh Coe saw his effort on the stroke of half-time go across the face of goal and just wide of the far post.

Steeton began the second half brightly and were a lick of paint away from retaking the lead as Fialdini’s flick on from a corner struck the post.

The visitors eventually found that goal to put themselves back in front.

Jeremie Milambo and Townsend linked up down the left wing, the latter putting a cross into the area.

The ball found itself at the feet of Coe and the striker, realising Shelley were attempting an offside trap, put the delivery behind the back four for the supporting Subhani to race through unchallenged and tap home.

However, this time the lead only lasted for a matter of seconds instead of minutes.

From the restart, Shelley launched a long ball over the top of the Steeton defence which caught the back line napping.

This saw Catlow race of his line in an attempt to clear the danger, but James Bootland got to the ball first.

Bootland squared the ball into the path of his strike partner Ethan Nixon, who passed the ball into the back of the empty net.

Steeton found themselves in a state of shock, and just six minutes later they fell behind.

A ball was delivered from the left wing into the area, and again the men in green were found wanting as Bootland flicked the ball past Catlow to put the hosts in the lead for the first time.

Mason tried to shake things up with a string of substitutions, but his side struggled to create the opportunities required to level the scoreboard up once more.

There were two late chances to rescue a point, but neither found the back of the Shelley net.

Lockwood made an outstanding block to turn a goal bound strike from Toby Jeffrey over the bar for a corner.

And in injury time, a Jeffrey delivery just evaded the head of Rory Langdon as the striker raced into the area.