Second half stroll for Emley as Church lose two

Alex Hallam and Alex Slack scored the goals that saw Emley make the most of their numerical advantage.

Until the two Penistone dismissals it was a fairly even contest. It was tight and chances were at a premium. Penistone could have taken the lead on 19 minutes when Marco Battaglia managed to wriggle his way through the Emley defence but blazed his shot over when one on one.

Emley’s best chance came from Kieran Ryan who forced a decent save out of Penistone ‘keeper Adam Rhodes.

The game changed on 39 minutes when Duncan Richards got a second yellow card and was given his marching orders. With Emley cranking up the pressure you felt it was going to be a long evening for Penistone but they made it even more difficult when Lewis Dickinson was sent off for a reckless challenge on the stroke of half time. Already booked for his protests, Dickinson joined his team mate in the changing rooms for a second-bookable offence.

Emley wasted little time in their attempts to bury the nine men in the second half. Jordan Coduri had the best chance of the game when Penistone failed to clear their lines and his shot was saved well by Rhodes. But Emley got their goal on 52 thanks to Hallam’s powerful low drive from the left hand side.

They quickly put the game to bed three minutes later when Penistone again failed to clear their lines and Slack swept the ball home after some nice build up play on the right.

It was enough to win the game for Emley and it’s perhaps why we saw Coduri attempt the spectacular when his bicycle kick attempt went over the bar. Emley should have got a third late on when Ryan managed to roll the ball across the six yard box and substitute Antony Leech saw his effort from five yards out saved by the recovering Rhodes.

Penistone battled well and the nine men did manage to give Emley one moment of panic when a corner caused all sorts of problems but the ball was cleared off the line and away from danger.

The game ended 10 v 9 when Coduri went off injured late on after Emley had already made their three changes.

Emley’s third league win from five games will see them move to seventh place in the league table with a trip to leaders Hull United to come on Saturday.