Great Shelford A 4 Steeple Morden 3STEEPLE Morden s hopes of glory in the John Ablett Cup were dashed as they lost to league rivals Great Shelford A. Manager Kenny Watters was forced into positional changes as inspirational midfielder Charlie Prothero w

Great Shelford A 4 Steeple Morden 3

STEEPLE Morden's hopes of glory in the John Ablett Cup were dashed as they lost to league rivals Great Shelford A.

Manager Kenny Watters was forced into positional changes as inspirational midfielder Charlie Prothero was missing following the birth of his daughter, and his team went 1-0 down early in the game when a cross from the right was slid in at the back post.

Steeple almost equalised soon after when a Ben Holt cross was almost turned home by Frankie Berry, but they did level the score on 19 minutes when Martyn Lees calmly finished from 10 yards.

Shelford responded with more tidy football and scored twice in ten minutes after exposing gaps in the Steeple defence.

Skipper Dom Holt clawed a goal back to make it 3-2 when he crashed the ball home through a crowd of players in the box, but Shelford's lead was again extended before the interval when a misplaced pass found a Shelford striker who rounded veteran keeper Tim Tidey and scored.

Dom Holt grabbed Steeple's third when he rose highest to head home a free-kick from Craig Richardson.

Matt Chapman made a promising debut after coming on for Richard Wheeler who was taken off injured after an impressive display and after good build up play the ball came to Chapman who made space and unleashed a great shot which beat the keeper but came back off the crossbar.

Dom Holt was also unfortunate to hit the crossbar after his shot rebounded off the woodwork in the dying minutes, and Steeple were unable to find an equalizer.

Team: Tidey, Richardson, Harrison, Wheeler (Chapman), Collins( Parr ), Berry, Jarman, Holt, Morris, Lees, Holt.