ROY Mason says he is happy for his Steeton side to continue to be seen as the entertainers in their division.

Steeton’s 19 games in all competitions so far this season have involved 98 goals, with 50 of them for Mason’s side.

The long-serving Chevrons boss is enjoying watching his side’s expansive and attacking style this season and believes that is what fans come to games to see.

His side’s attacking philosophy was highlighted on Saturday as Steeton moved up to 10th following a 5-3 win at second-from-bottom Daisy Hill in North West Counties League Division One North.

Steeton stormed to a 3-0 lead before being pegged back to 3-3. But two late strikes sealed the points for the Chevrons, whose goals came from Luke Baldwin, Kayle Price, Thomas Robinson, Kayle Price and Joshua McKiernon.

Mason accepts Steeton, who travel to Pilkington on Saturday, have had a rollercoaster start to their season, winning six of their 17 league games so far, but enjoys almost offering fans a guarantee of goals in their matches.

He said: “We like the tag of entertainers. We do want to be entertained, we want to see goals and attacking play.

“I’m really impressed by the quality of some of our strikes.

“The way we play, we leave ourselves open to the counter attack. We will always concede goals by the way we play.

“People like to be entertained. I would rather we won 4-3 than 1-0, really.

“I’m coming up to my 500th game in charge of Steeton.

“The players have put us through the wringer, week in, week out. I had dark hair when I took this job on.

“We only had three fit defenders on Saturday, so you can only work with the players that you’ve got.

“We started the game off at Daisy Hill really well. We took our foot off the gas on Saturday. Our game management was poor.

“We got pegged back to 3-3 and then changed our shape. But we scored two fantastic goals and managed to see out the game.”

Mason says this season and the last 18 months have been tough for himself, Steeton and everyone in football.

Not only have Steeton had to carry out a ground move, but also done so amid the restrictions and lockdowns associated with the pandemic.

But Mason says he is glad to be part of a tough and competitive Division One North this season.

He added: “It’s been tough this last 18 months for everybody. It has been very tough in terms of football.

“We have had a lot of work in terms of the move to Marley. It has been all hands to the pump.

“There is a lot of stuff that goes on away from the football side in the semi-professional game.

“It’s amazing how things can turn around in football really. Then football is back to being the greatest game in the world again.

“The difference in our division this season between fifth or sixth place and fourth place is only a few points. Bury are favourites to win the league.

“Anyone can beat anyone in this division. There are no easy games. That’s what we’re in football for, we want something that’s good and competitive.”