AFC Emley v Maltby Main - SHSC 6th November 2012

Despite wild and windy conditions it was an entertaining affair which included 7 well taken goals shared between the two sides.

The home team took the lead in the 7th minute as leading scorer Ash Flynn stole into the box to head home a cross from Levi Maturine.

With the wind at their backs Emley enjoyed much of the play putting their higher level opponents under plenty of pressure but found that their final ball was overhit due to windy conditions. Maturine hit the bar with what appeared to be a cross, whilst Flynn fired over the bar in a good position as he stretched to reach a good ball from Leech.

Maltby responded with a well worked goal on 27 minutes as Sean Greaves picked the ball up in midfield, then delivered a well weighted ball along the ground into the path of Robert Branaghan who held off Paul Sykes before slotting the ball home past Luke Herriott.

Flynn had a good chance to put Emley back in front soon after as Maturine fed him with angled ball but Main goalkeeper Jamie Bailey made good 1 handed stop from his chip.

There wasn’t long to wait however as Maturine flicked on an Aaron Joseph cross into the path of Anthony Leech who volleyed home from the edge of the box to make it 2-1 on 33 minutes.

Leech grabbed his second goal and Emley’s third on 42 minutes sliding in to divert home a cross from Flynn after he and Steven Kenworthy had tied the Maltby defence in knots.

Flynn was denied again by Bailey in the dying stages of the half after a good ball by Kenworthy with Emley good value for their lead in a half that they had expectedly dominated with wind advantage, the question would be how the dealt with the reversed conditions in the second half.

Emley should have extended their lead a minute into the half as Kenworthy set Flynn free, the striker crossed unselfishly to Brad Riley who scuffed a seemingly simple close range shot which was cleared off the line.

They did make it 4-1 on 51 minutes and it was Riley who found Flynn in space just inside the box. Flynn smashed a terrific rising shot which Bailey was powerless to prevent going into the net to record his 16th goal of the season.

The goal was a real bonus for Emley but was by no means enough to ensure that they had the game sewn up and with the wind behind them Maltby were able to excerpt the same kind of pressure that they came up against in the first half.

Maltby brought on all 3 of their subs around the hour mark and it was one of the subs Jack Booth who delivered fantastic cross with his first touch of the game onto the head of Branagan who flicked it on past Herriott into the back of the net on 63 minutes.

Josh Cooke denied Branagan his hat trick soon after with a well timed sliding tackle but Emley were unable to clear the lines and former Emley man Mark Stuart curled home a brilliant strike from the edge of the box to reduce his sides deficit to 4-3.

With 20 minutes to play the momentum was now firmly behind Maltby, Herriott had to be alert to tip a testing free kick from Craig Gladwin over the bar. He was then troubled by long clearance from goalkeeper Bailey which travelled the full length of the field.

The visitors pumped plenty of dangerous balls into the Emley box but the home team held firm, with Herriott making a vital close range block from Greg Mason.

There was a thrilling finale to the game well into the 5 minutes of injury time. Emley cleared their lines to substitute Anthony Haigh who appeared to be running the ball into corner to see the game out before spotting Bailey slip at the edge of his box. Sensing the chance to finish the game off in style he squared to Riley who hit a good shot which was in turn cleared off the line. Maltby broke and looked destined to grab an equaliser with 3 men in dangerous positions but a timely intervention by Cooke saw the ball to safety and guarantee a home victory.

Emley:
Herriott, Thornton, Schofield, Leech, Cooke, Sykes, Joseph, Maturine (Jordan 78), Flynn (Ingham 89), Kenworthy (Haigh 78), Riley. Subs (not used): Cyrus, Hazelden.

Maltby:
Bailey, Greaves (Booth 62), Austin, Mason, Welsey, Plant, Gladwin, Foulds (Bridgeman 55), Branagan, Stuart, Cuckson (Langford 62). Sub (not used): Carney.

Emley Man of the Match: Ash Flynn
Emley Cautions: Schofield 82, Riley 90+1. Att: 84.