It was deja-vu for Atherton LR as another last-gasp winning goal against Steeton kept them top of NECFL First Division North.

LR began brightly and Tom Romano had the most notable chance in the opening 15 minutes with a charging attack down the leftbefore4 sneaking his way past the defenders and keeper, but an unlucky mistake denied him on the goalline.

Steeton upped the pressure with some high pressing which allowed them to drive forward up to the edge of the LR box, but some great defending by the wing-backs kept the Chevrons at bay.

After the break, Steeton were the team on top with a range of chances leading to floated balls into the box, but poor finishing kept the scores level.

It could still go either way and LR were on the cusp of opening the scoring when a deflected corner found the feet of Joe Bacon who curved an effort destined for the bottom right corner before a goalline clearance thwarted them again.

The fourth official put the board up for four additional minutes and it urged the Crilly Park crowd to raise the noise to try and push the team forward.

A long throw-in from Benni Wilkinson bounced into the box and was flicked on by Lance Houghton which ultimately went in via a deflection - a dream-like ending for LR and a crushing blow for Steeton.

Boss Dave Jones said: “It’s a second phase from a long throw in to the box, Lance has swung a leg at it, not caught it very clean, it’s bounced, bobbled and ended up going in.

“It was a really difficult game as Steeton came in, defended really well and were difficult to break down.

“I say to the lads all the time, you’ve got to find ways to win games, but you’ve got to be prepared to go the full length to get them.

“People will sit there and go, LR won at the end again - yeah we did, but there’s a group there that want to go to the end.”

LR visit Ashton Town next on Saturday (3pm).