STEETON fell to a fourth consecutive defeat as they went down 2-1 at home to Nelson.

On another disappointing afternoon at the office for the Chevrons, manager Roy Mason was left furious after his side were outfought and outplayed across the park, as the Admirals picked up three points to lift them from the foot of the North West Counties Football League First Division North table.

And it left a lot of questions to be answered of the Steeton side as they continue in this busy period of the season.

The visitors came out of the blocks quickly as they looked to apply pressure on the back four and James Catlow.

Nelson did nearly find themselves in the lead early on, however the linesman’s flags spared their blushes as Reece Miller went half a second too early to try and latch on to a through ball.

The visitors from across the Pennines eventually broke the deadlock just short of the quarter of the hour mark.

From a free kick after Louis Fialdini was flagged offside, Jordan Gidley sent the delivery towards the Steeton box.

Scrambled around the edge of the area, the ball fell into the path of Jude Entwistlem, who found himself unmarked and unchallenged to smash the ball inside the far post.

Steeton’s defence went looking for the offside flag, but it was never coming as the Nelson front man read the line superbly.

A goal behind and struggling to keep hold of the ball, the hosts nearly equalised in the most bizarre of circumstances.

Toby Jeffery, on his 200th appearance for the club, whipped a corner towards the near post and saw the delivery dip on to the crossbar, but the ball went over for a goal kick.

An equaliser almost came through debutant Ezio De Santis, but his strike from range was deflected over.

And on the brink of half-time, a last ditch headed clearance of the line by Jack Lynn prevented a second goal for Nelson.

The second goal for the visitors came almost immediately after the restart.

Gidley denied Fialdini and then launched a kick up the pitch, where Jacob Hamilton took possession of the ball.

The winger put a pinpoint delivery into the path of Entwistle to double his tally for the afternoon with a composed finish under pressure.

Now chasing the game, Mason introduced his attacking options from the bench as he looked to find a way for his side to get back into the contest.

Set-piece delivery continually let Steeton down throughout the second half as every free kick and corner was easily taken by Gidley in the goal or cleared unchallenged by a man in blue.

A controversial moment soon followed.

Mo Farhan Subhani was pulled and hacked down maliciously in the middle of the park, which sparked a coming together of the two sets of players.

A five-minute delay ensued and ended with the referee booking Josh Kaine, who had not been involved, instead of Josh Walne, despite both benches and the linesman informing him of his mistake.

The referee was again at the centre of attention minutes later after Rory Langdon looked to have been held back inside the area, but no penalty was forthcoming.

Langdon did get his first goal for the club in injury-time.

Arale Mohamed put a wicked ball towards the far post, the flight of which was misjudged by Gidley, allowing Langdon to head home.

It only proved a consolation, as a superb block by Morgan Bird at the death denied Jeffrey a sensational equaliser with the last kick of the game.

Steeton will try to hit back in the Edward Case Cup first round tomorrow night at Holker Old Boys.