Penistone Church 3-0 AFC Emley

3 Goals in 11 first half minutes ended AFC Emley's Sheffield and Hallamshire cup dreams at the quarter finals stage at Penistone.

At a nippy DSM Memorial ground, Penistone yet again got the better of an Emley side, Penistone's premier league class eventually told, but it was no disgrace for an Emley team who battled well throughout.
Emley were quick onto the attack early on with Jacob Buchanan causing Penistone full back Johnson problems, but unable to find a cutting edge, other early Emley raids were cut short by the impressive pairing of Brennan and Lovell at the back for Penistone.

The game remained fairly even for the next 30 minutes, with both teams putting in some crunching tackles, and both defences repelling each others' attacks.
The breakthrough came on 32 minutes, when Ryan Smith hammered a shot that flew past Max Dearnley in the Emley goals and would probably have landed somewhere near Wortley if the net hadn't stopped it!
Despite this, Emley continued to move the ball around well and looked to try and get a quick equaliser, but again were constantly edged out by good Penistone defence.
So it was a blow when Smith notched his second 9 minutes later, a ball pulled back from the byline was tucked away neatly for a 2-0 lead, and then the game was almost over as a contest when a long hopeful ball resulted in Smith bringing up his hat trick after another tidy finish, this time from Emley's left.
HT: Penistone Church 3-0 AFC Emley
Matty Waller replaced Jonny Bullivant at half time for Emley.
Penistone were well on top at the start of the second half as Keightley, Ryan and Smith caused no end of problems for the Emley defence, but wayward shots and last ditch blocks kept the score at 3-0.
The game was starting to get stretched midway through the half, but Emley couldn't create any clear cut chances despite some good play in midfield, and Waller's trickery, again, the colossus of Lovell and Brennan stood in the way.
Curtis Roberts replaced Lewis Dickinson for Emley on '68 but Penistone upped the pace again and threatened to add to their lead, thankfully for Emley though it stayed at 3, the final substitution saw Thabiso Magida replace Rhys Thomas on '81 and give Emley pace and trickery down both sides, there was a couple of half chances for Emley near the end, with a couple of shots just narrowly wide.
Despite 3 quick goals to end the contest in reality, Emley put in a good performance against a very good Penistone side, containing 4 ex Emley players in Brennan, Coduri, Ryan and Graham, who are flying in the higher division, and the superior skill and speed showed in the end, but Emley were far from disgraced in the end.
FT:Penistone Church 3-0 AFC Emley
Attendance: 210
AFC Emley M.O.M- Aaron Joseph