Steels 1-3 Ossett United

Stocksbridge Park Steels struggled to deal with a physical Ossett United side as they lost 3-1.

The game began with some end to end action as both sides frantically looked to take the lead early on. Ossett were the ones creating better chances at this point as they flashed some shots wide. But the real action would happen off the pitch. There was a clash of heads between two opposition players, with the Ossett players believing that an elbow was thrown. Several members of the Ossett bench were aggrieved at this and that led the referee to head to the side to send substitute David Brown off for dissent. This had its own controversy, as many fans claimed that the choice line from the bench which led to the sending off was not from Brown but from another member of the Ossett bench.

But that bit of chaos didn’t stop Ossett as they were the ones able to take the lead. The entire pitch stopped as an Ossett player went down with injury, but former Steel Janni Lipka remained alive to it. He got onto the ball, saw Ben Townsend off his line and duly lobbed him, giving Stocksbridge the lead.

Stocksbridge would be level before the break though. Lewis Macaskill was causing plenty of problems on the wing and he was able to get himself enough space to put in a low cross. It seemed to happen in slow motion but Ross Goodwin was the final man who was able to knock the ball in at the far post.

The Steels had the worst possible start to the second half. Christopher Dawson picked up the ball in midfield and waltzed through the Stocksbridge defence like they weren’t there. Eventually he applied the finish, leaving Townsend with very little chance of making the save.

Stocksbridge did try to fight back to get back into the game despite an initial feeling of shellshock after conceding the goal. But they struggled to break through a strong Ossett defence which looked to limit the Steels as much as possible. When Stocksbridge were able to get chances off, they were either headed wide or looped into goalkeeper Paul Cooper’s arms.

The game was killed off as a contest ten minutes from time. It was a simple ball into the box and James Walshaw beat Townsend to it in the air, allowing him to power a header home and give Ossett a lead Stocksbridge had little chance of trying to get back.