Steels 1-0 Tadcaster Albion

06/11/2022Last Updated: 06/11/2022

255 2 minutes read

Stocksbridge Park Steels beat Tadcaster Albion in a game better described as a damp squib than a firecracker.

The game was as miserable as the weather and it began very scrappy. Neither team could get hold of the game very few chances were being made. But eventually, the blue touch paper was lit with a cracker of a goal. Alex O’Connor put some pressure on T’Nique Fishley and his clearance would be poor, landing at the feet of Kurtis Turner. Outside of the corner of the box, Turner went for it and curled a powerful shot into the top corner. Max Culverwell did not have a chance.

Turner continued to be the best player on the pitch and he was unlucky not to get a second. After a corner, he got the ball and danced through a couple of trailing legs before firing the shot goalwards. He smacked off the inside of the box and just unluckily for Stocksbridge, it went behind Kenan McKenzie-Grey who was looking to add the poacher’s finish.

Tadcaster didn’t threaten much in the first half but they did come close when Lewis Hey whistled a shot just over from outside of the box. In fact it was Stocksbridge who ended the half better with Turner having another shot from distance. Culverwell spilled the effort after saving it, but he got it away before McKenzie-Grey was able to latch onto it and score.

However, Tadcaster did think they had the equaliser before the referee ended the half. Theo Hudson’s free kick was well saved by former Brewer Harrison Davison-Hale, but it fell to Rob Guilfoyle who bundled the ball home. Stocksbridge were saved by the linesman’s flag though who ruled it was offside. It was definitely a very close call whichever way the decision should have gone.

In the second half, Tadcaster were much improved as they were looking to get their equaliser, or at least something that could point them to their first win of the season. Charlie Jebson-King’s dive and shot was off target while a Guilfoyle free kick was well saved by Davison-Hale. However for the most part, Stocksbridge were able to deal with what was being thrown at them.

With Stocksbridge’s forays into the other half mostly being wasted and more likely to frighten a bus behind the stand than the goal, Tadcaster were being given the opportunity to get back into the game. They came very close to taking them as well. Nathan Dyer, not the Swansea City one, broke free on the right and his deft finish hit the post before going out of play. Even close was Guilfoyle’s shot within the six-yard box which was heroically saved by Davison-Hale.

In the end, Stocksbridge were able to hold on and win a very scrappy point with the three points being more important than a clean performance on this occasion.

MOTM: Kurtis Turner