Late surge not enough to complete comeback

Emley weren’t helped with the news that goalkeeper Adam Lawlor picked up an injury in the warm up leaving defender Iwan Heeley to stand in as his replacement.

Both teams had secured their playoff spots which showed as they struggled to play their best football throughout.

Jordan Coduri caused the Bottesford backline some trouble with his pace and skill early on and striker Ashley Flynn was always a danger if a chance came by.

However Emley struggled to deal with the surge of long balls that came their way and Tom Spall wasted an excellent opportunity for the visitors after be played in by Josh Nichol.

The Pewits didn’t learn their lesson when Nichol was played in from another long ball over the top and he slotted into the bottom left hand corner past Heeley. However they did respond and created the best chance of the half shortly after.

Coduri turned the fullback inside out before his shot come cross fell to Flynn whose instinctive touch towards goal was saved by Leigh Herrick with his face.

Emley continued to pile on pressure but couldn’t create clear cut chances with Tom Brennan’s blocked shot from a corner the only real dangerous opportunity.

With the last touch of the first half, Emley switched off allowing Wayne Graves to nip in and curl past a helpless Heeley.

Flynn was replaced at half time due to a hamstring injury and while Emley tried to get themselves back into the game, they were struggling defensively.

Nichol and Craig Bridge were getting in behind too easily but couldn’t punish Emley’s back four.

Paul Goodhand also shot wide after Emley failed to clear and corner but they were soon gifted the third goal they were searching for.

Alex Horsman's defensive header glanced the top of his head to put substitute Danny Boulton through on goal to make it three.

Kieran Ryan pulled one back for Emley after turning inside from the left and smashing the ball into the bottom right hand corner.

A few minutes later Ryan was once again played in and hit the outside of the post as Emley showed signs of a comeback late on.

Captain Michael Tunnacliffe pulled another one back after the ball fell to him nicely on the edge of the area, but Bottesford’s Herrick should have done much better with the effort.

The loss drops Emley below their opponents into fourth and they’ll face Knaresborough Town in their final game of the league season before their playoff semi final game next Tuesday.