Report: Worksop Town (A)

Emley’s quest to defend the Sheffield & Hallamshire County Cup title has reached its conclusion. Entering the cup run as the reigning champion, The Pewits faced a formidable challenge in this match, confronting a home side situated two leagues above them. The stage was set for one of the most challenging encounters of their season.

It was a game that the Pewit’s faithful were optimistic about, a superior opposition put double digits past the Emley defence, and gave Tracey and his men a lot to think about should Emley start advancing up the leagues.

Emley started the game rather brightly, for the first 5 or so minutes Worksop barely touched the ball, they nullified any Emley progression, yet they were still not able to build much of their own, and were very much waiting for an Emley mistake, in which they would spring forward and create a chance.

There was a clash of heads after Worksop lumped a ball into Randall who saw it behind, and before the corner could be taken. Charlie Barks needed attention after coming off the worse of the two and was ultimately deemed unable to continue. Emley were forced into an early substitution which saw Paul Walker enter the field.

It was from here that the game started to unravel, it seemed that the very early stoppage, the substitution and the opposition just being that little bit crisper caught up to them, as the Pewits were unable to get into a rhythm. Just 4 minutes from the restart, a cross was sent into Randal’s box, followed by a flurry of shots from the Worksop attackers, Vaughan Redford grabbed his first goal of the occasion.

Emley did not recover quickly enough, and it took just 8 minutes for the hosts to double their advantage, as yet again the ball was crossed into the 6-yard box, for Jordan Burrow this time, who at the near post poked it past Randal, sending the Tigers into a well-deserved 2 goal lead.

It began to seem that there was going to be a goal every 10 minutes or so, as with now 30 minutes on the clock, Worksop were given a very generous penalty by the referee, and Redford snatched his brace, powering a strong penalty past Randal that he couldn’t have done much about.

Worksop were now really in their groove, and were cruising through the game, completely suffocating Emley, and with 2 minutes left to play, Redford claimed a first half hat-trick as he chipped Randal who was just off his line, in what was to be the final major action of the first half, sending the home side into the second half with a 4 goal advantage.

H/T - Worksop Town 4 – 0 Emley

Just 22 seconds after the referee had restarted the game, the ball was being slumped back to the centre circle by a despondent Emley, as Aleks Starcenko got his first of the occasion, catching the Pewits off guard and many of the fans in the ground who hadn’t yet made their way back out into the cold.

The 2nd goal of the second half came in calamitous style, as a shaky and exasperated Emley defence were once again pin-balling the ball in the box, and a rather unfortunate deflection saw the 6th goal fly past Randal who was on the deck, and it went down as an own goal.

It took just 3 minutes to find a 7th, as Starcenko got his brace, as yet again a cross was sent in and met by a free man in the box, and under very little pressure the good Worksop move was converted in somewhat a brutal fashion.

Before the scoreboard had even been updated to show that it was 7 - the 8th goal was already rippling the net, as Redford bagged his 4th of the night as he burst into the box and managed to sneak a shot under Randal, and with more than half an hour still on the clock it began to look worse and worse for the Emley contingent.

Emley from this point ventured for a fleeting moment into the Worksop box, desperate to grab even a consolation goal, however once possession was turned back over to the home side, they sprang forward and forced another unlucky mistake as a clearance was skewed and hit against a Worksop player who unbeknownst to him had sent the hosts into a 9 goal advantage.

Still with 25 minutes to play, the game began to settle down, as Worksop players knew the job was more than done, and Emley knew there was no way back, and it became damage limitation as much as it could, although most of the damage had already been done.

The final goal came in added time, in the 91st minute Redford got his 5th goal from a corner in which he was again left unmarked and jumped the highest to tick the Tigers into a double-digit lead.

F/T Worksop Town 10 – 0 Emley

This game was very tough for the Pewits, however it now means Tracey and his men can keep a closer watch on the League and FA Vase.

Line-Up – Randal, Pashley, Hardaker, Clegg, Barks, Lawrence, Mirza, Kenny, Curtis, Eyles, Jagger

Subs – Used – Metcalfe, Walker
Unused – Gooden, Smith, Jerome

Attendance - 233

Photo on article by RbiPhotography1 on Twitter