West Riding County Cup Quarter-Final
Brighouse Town 2-1 Steeton
Shiraz Khan’s very controversial second half penalty booked Brighouse Town’s place in the semi-final and sent an angry Steeton out.
Referee Jamie Waters certainly won’t be welcome at Steeton for a while having somehow deemed that defender Alistair Morgan had fouled Alex King on the edge of the left side of the penalty area ten minutes into the second half.
Nobody appealed and everyone expected a free kick to Steeton or a goal kick to be given.
Instead Mr Waters crazily awarded Brighouse a penalty and Khan took full advantage of the gift with a successful Panenka .
Steeton rightly went barmy over the decision – which will be well worth a watch on the highlights.
Max Fenton and goalkeeper Stuart Cross were yellow carded for sharing their views with the Mr Waters.
Mr Waters was probably fortunate the sin-bin rules for dissent must not apply in the County Cup as Steeton might have ended up with less than seven players on-the-field and that would have been true chaos.
Although the cause of how they lost was a complete disgrace, Steeton have to be proud of their performance against a NPL Division One East side.
Brighouse were without injured sharp-shooters Laurence Sorhaindo and Zeph Thomas but they still had a strong team out and Steeton matched them.
The well-known big guns such as Brett Souter, Matty Nebard, Josh Grant, Corey Gregory, James Hurtley, Khan, Tom Haigh and Elliott Harrison all started.
Steeton ‘keeper Cross had to make a smart save in the second minute to deny the home side from taking the lead.
Steeton then had the two best chances.
Jahro Parchment went through and should have done better while leading goal-scorer Kayle Price was denied by some last ditch defending.
Brighouse thought they had made the breakthrough in the 42nd minute when make-shift striker Elliott Harrison sent a low effort past Cross from a tight angle.
Many probably assumed that was game-over for Steeton.
However, they hit back instantly.
Jack Lynn sent the ball back into the box from a corner and Morgan met it on the edge of the penalty area and sent a header high into the sky.
It probably had icicles on it as it came down an looped into Brett Souter’s left-hand top corner.
The second half saw Steeton hold their own throughout.
But one cruel decision went against them and they couldn’t recover.
Brighouse finished with ten men as Tom Haigh received a second yellow card.
The Teams
Brighouse Town: Souter, Nebard, Grant, Gregory, Beeden, Hurtley, Khan (Rozss 82), Haigh, Harrison, Clarke (Reed 20), King. Subs unused: Ross, Brealey, English.
Steeton: Cross, Jeffrey, Lynn (Baldwin 69), Morgan, White, Robinson, Subhani, McKiernon (Tailford 85), Parchment (Snowden 85), Price, Fenton (Darkins 72).
Who Was In Charge
Jamie Waters (5/10)
How Many Were There
161
Man of the Match
Alistair Morgan (Steeton)
