AFC Emley 2 - 0 Ollerton Town

AFC Emley were 2-0 winners against Ollerton Town at the Fantastic Media Welfare Ground tonight, which proved to be a crucial three points for Darren Hepworth’s side, who continue to apply pressure on the promotion push, despite being stuck in 9th.

Sam Jerome and Ashley Flynn have regularly found themselves on the scoresheet of late and they both added another goal to their tallies this evening.

The comfortable victory keeps Emley in 9th place after this round of fixtures, despite dropping to 11th after Tuesday’s matches.

But Darren Hepworth can have no complaints with his side’s seemingly disappointing place in the table. In fact, there is no shame in the club’s position. A good run of results may well see the Pewits skyrocket up the table into the top three, as we saw with Selby Town just last week.

And they started a prosperously promising run of victories with a 2-0 win against Ollerton tonight.

The game could have, however, been so much different. The visitors were awarded a harsh penalty on the half an hour mark. Justice was served when Graham McLachlan saved Josh Bowkett’s poor attempt. That is now 6 penalties out of 6 that Ollerton have missed this season. Perhaps more practice on the training ground is required.

And Emley soon capitalised when Sam Jerome cropped up at the back post from a corner to head into the back of the net, scoring his third goal of the month on the stroke of half time.

Emley sprung into the second half with sheer spirit and nearly doubled the advantage through Ashley Flynn, whose close range header was expertly kept out by Ollerton goalkeeper Phil McGann.

That wouldn’t dampen Emley’s top scorer’s spirits, though. Flynn went on to grab his traditional goal in the 66th minute, a cute curling effort past McGann into the bottom right corner.

Game over it seemed.

Despite Ollerton’s efforts to salvage something from the game, they were in vein, and were actually lucky to keep Emley at bay for a third.

Aaron Joseph and Jordan Coduri both had chances to round off a perfect victory, but McGann was having none of it.

Tonight’s North Lights Physiotherapy Man of the Match was Josh Ingham on his return to the club after spells with Shelley FC and Hall Green United. The youngster controlled the ball with composure and pleased Darren Hepworth with his composed passing abilities.

A fine win in the end for the Pewits, who can now look forward to their journey to Shirebrook Town on Saturday afternoon (15.00).

A win is crucial, again, as the promotion push enters fifth gear.

Wins for Pontefract Collieries, Penistone Church, Selby Town, Campion AFC, Grimsby Borough, Knaresborough Town and Hallam FC highlight the importance of Emley’s win tonight, to ensure they remain in touching distance of those above them.

It’s sure that Darren Hepworth will be keeping a close eye on some of Saturday’s crunch matches, involving teams at the top of the table, such as Pontefract v Campion and Selby v Eccleshill United.