AFC Emley 2 - 1 Grimsby Borough

AFC Emley held onto a narrow lead to beat promotion rivals Grimsby Borough 2-1 at the Fantastic Media Welfare Ground this afternoon.

Jordan Coduri and Sam Jerome were on target for the hosts, who took advantage of their man advantage after Steve Cooper was sent off early on.

A goal from Louis Grant and Graham McLachlan being shown red set up a nervy finale in West Yorkshire.

But Darren Hepworth’s side held on despite a late scare and returned to winning ways after last week’s surprise 3-1 loss to Teversal.

The Pewits remain five points clear at the top of the NCEL Division One table and could extend the gap to eight next week after they travel to 3rd placed Pontefract Collieries as Penistone Church take a break.

The trip to the Harratts Nissan Stadium next Saturday will draw a difficult spell of fixtures to a close for Emley, and Grimsby found themselves sandwiched right in the middle of that period.

The afternoon looked to be settled in the opening exchanges; however, as referee Michael Connell awarded Emley a penalty and controversially sent Steve Cooper for an extremely premature bath.

Coduri converted from twelve yards. He turned provider for Emley’s second as his cross was diverted in by Jerome at the near post to give the hosts a seemingly comfortable lead at the interval.

Emley failed to capitalise on their man advantage and would soon pay the price when the visitors went in search of a way back into the game.

And they certainly got that with 20 minutes remaining, when Louis Grant cropped up and fired in at the near post on his third Borough debut.

If nerves weren’t being rattled enough amongst the home crowd, they certainly were when McLachlan was given his marching orders for a desperate challenge on Grant.

Craig Billington volunteered to put the goalkeeper gloves on and deputised bravely in the final ten minutes to see off a bloodthirsty Borough.

Hepworth said after the game: “Billy has volunteered to go in sticks and that’s big of anybody.”

“Within seconds, he’s tested with a horrible ball which bounced right in front of him, enough to make any routine keeper struggle, and there’s a lot of bodies in front of him, so to get through that he deserves a lot of credit,” he added.

Hepworth will take his side to take on Selby Town in the League Cup 4th Round on Tuesday night (7.45pm), who they beat 7-1 in the league earlier in the season.