STEETON fell to a disappointing defeat on the road on Saturday, going down 3-1 away at Bacup Borough in the North West Counties Football League First Division North.

In truth, the Borough were good value for their win against a Chevrons side that simply did not turn up on the day.

And it left manager Roy Mason seething as he declared that his side were second best in every department on a disappointing afternoon in Lancashire.

The first half was a tale of tempo without quality, as both sides failed to threaten the goal inside the opening half hour.

Arale Mohamed had the first chance of the afternoon as he got the wrong side of the centre half, but the effort from the forward flew wide of the near post despite the goal being at his mercy.

Bacup also had an opportunity to open the scoring, but Jordan Townend tracked back superbly to deflect a strike wide for a corner.

Debutant Seb Bolton beat the Bacup offside trap but as he looked to race through on goal, Mason Walker came from his line to clear.

Otherwise, the home side were dominating and a quickfire double gave them a two-goal advantage to take into the interval, courtesy of poor defensive set-piece play from the Chevvies.

Josh Walne managed to turn a goalbound effort wide for a corner, but it proved brief respite.

The delivery was sent towards the back post, where Joe Fallon found himself unmarked to loop his header over James Catlow and into the back of the net.

The second goal soon followed in very similar circumstances.

Again, a defensive block turned a strike away for a corner.

The ball was this time driven low into the six-yard box for Lewis-Simon Byrne to stroll undetected through a sea of yellow shirts to get his head down and turn the ball in from close range.

The second half began as the first ended, with all the attacking play and threat coming from those in white shirts.

Two early opportunities fell Bacup’s way, with Brad Hancock firing over from range before Kyle Siddle saw his effort bend inches wide of the far post from just inside the area.

In an attempt to freshen up his side and give them some threat, Mason introduced Josh Coe and Louis Fialdini from the substitutes bench and changed the formation to include a diamond in midfield.

However, nothing seemed to be working for the men in yellow and blue shirts, as the closest they came was Bolton once more beating the offside trap, but with Walker in the Borough goal coming away from his line to clear.

A deserved third goal for the hosts came in a manner that again left Mason raging on the touchline.

Jake Townsend delivered a Steeton corner, but a Bacup head rose highest in the box to clear launching a full length of the pitch counter.

The ball was shifted wide to the right wing, where Alex Mellor was on hand to accept the pass.

The winger drove towards the Steeton area and cut inside, leaving both Jack Lynn and Mo Farhan Subhani in his wake, before firing the strike inside Catlow’s near post.

Steeton finished the afternoon with a consolation goal in injury time.

From a corner whipped towards the edge of the six-yard box from Toby Jeffrey, Coe was pulled to ground by his marker.

The young forward picked himself up off the ground to send the keeper the wrong way and place the ball inside the bottom corner from the spot for his fifth goal of the season.

It was a small positive from a disappointing afternoon, as Steeton look to bounce back at leaders FC St Helens on Saturday.