Steels 2-0 Cleethorpes Town
Stocksbridge Park Steels got back to winning ways in the league with a 2-0 win over Cleethorpes Town.
The Steels almost had the lead within the minute. After pushing back when Cleethorpes tried to get an attack going, Stocksbridge went on the attack as Luke Rawson looked to get an attack of their own going. His dribbling got a lucky bounce which allowed him to get through but his finish within the box would end up going over.
It wouldn’t take long for Stocksbridge to get their goal, in fact it was just three minutes later. There was some good passing on the edge of the box before the ball fell to Basille Zottos. He took the ball past one defender before slamming it into the bottom corner, easing the nerves of the fans at Bracken Moor in the process.
The rest of the half went as planned for Stocksbridge as they had control of the game. Zottos continued to cause problems for the Cleethorpes defence and would have an effort saved by James McKeown. Charlie Oglesby was also close to connecting to a corner, but he just mistimed it and Cleethorpes were able to defend. While the Owls were looking better at the end of the half, it would remain 1-0 to the Steels at the break.
Cleethorpes continued their good play in the second half and looked to cause problems. And cause a problem they did. Dan Gallimore tried an effort from long range and it was almost a stunner as it cracked off the bar. Ross Goodwin then cleared it under pressure, going to the ground as he did so along with a Cleethorpes attacker. There was a bit of afters, which Ben Townsend reacted badly to, pushing over the Owls man. This led to a stoppage in play and after consultation with the linesman, the penalty was given. Curtis Bateson stepped up and blasted the ball over, ending a chaotic couple of minutes.
If Cleethorpes were already angry at everything that happened, they were going to be more upset soon. Kurtis Turner whipped in a free kick and Goodwin got onto it, forcing an impressive save from McKeown. It fell to Oglesby though who was able to smash home from close range and give Stocksbridge a comfortable lead.
Following this game, the match petered out and Stocksbridge were able to hold on for a massive win with the Steels climbing out of the relegation zone thanks to the victory.
