STEETON fell to a second consecutive defeat on the road as they went down 2-1 to Ashton Athletic.

Looking to bounce back from the previous weekend’s agonising late defeat to the league leaders, the Chevrons knew a tough challenge awaited in the shape of one of the North West Counties Football League First Division North's in-form teams.

And with manager Roy Mason forced into a reshuffle with a number of regulars injured or unavailable, the much-changed side were edged out on an otherwise even afternoon in outer Wigan.

The visitors came out of the traps quickly and found themselves on top for the opening 15 minutes of the game.

Jacob Smith forced an early save from Joe Beswick in the Athletic goal, with Steeton continuing to push forward.

Harvey Green had an attempt cleared with the follow-up seeing debutant Faris Khan putting a strike just wide of the post.

Beswick then made another save, this time to deny Jack Lynn.

However, the tide of the game turned the way of the home side and Ashton Athletic broke the deadlock soon after.

Trying to play their way out from the back, a loose pass from a Steeton man went into the path of Deklan Hill.

The Athletic striker took possession of the ball and composed himself to put the ball into the back of the net and put his team in the lead.

Despite taking the lead, the home side allowed Steeton back into the arm wrestle and the Chevrons were desperately unlucky to not go into the half-time break level.

Owen Williamson saw a header strike the crossbar before being scrambled off the line.

And then just before the break, Williamson beat two men before seeing a strike deflected out for a corner.

The resulting corner saw a header from Lynn go over the woodwork.

The start of the second half proved disastrous for the Chevrons as the hosts doubled their lead immediately from the restart.

With just 44 seconds on the clock, Athletic played the ball into the box where Hill found himself unmarked to head home with ease to add to his second goal of the afternoon.

Now trailing by two, the visitors were looking for a way into the contest.

And they thought they had found it as Jacob Smith saw his shirt pulled over his head, and himself down to the ground, inside the area.

Despite strong penalty appeals, the referee waved away any penalty appeals to the anger and frustration of those in green and white.

To further add to these frustrations, play was restarted with a drop ball to the home side.

Needing a goal, there were brief moments of promise but the closest that the visitors came was an easy save from Beswick to deny Debenham as he got his head to a Josh Coe cross into the box.

Happy to sit on the ball and lead to take the points, Athletic kept the ball in midfield and frustrated their visitors despite their efforts to find a breakthrough back into the game.

With three minutes of normal time left on the clock, there was a glimmer of hope for the Chevrons.

Lynn’s throw into the attacking third caused problems at the back for the home side.

The ball landed to Debenham who in turn provided his third assist of the campaign, playing Ethan Hudson-Parker through to put the ball into the back of the net.

Now needing a goal for a point, Steeton continued to push in injury time, but the home side were resolute and held on to make sure they took the win.

The Chevrons are fourth-bottom but are already a healthy seven points clear of the drop zone.