Keeper off as Emley lose 6 goal thriller

No Christmas cheer for the Pewits!

AFC Emley returned home from Rotherham empty handed after a 4-2 defeat to Parkgate, but in all honesty, only have themselves to blame for a disastrous last quarter of the game in which they conceded 3 times and had Keeper Adam Ledger sent off for using language that he really shouldn't have!
In a thoroughly compelling game from start to finish, Emley will probably feel they should have been coming back with 3 valuable points, instead they appeared to have handed Parkgate an early Christmas present.
Emley were out of the blocks in blistering time, within 2 minutes, the excellent Ben Mills was through on goal but his chip shot was just off target and collected by the keeper,
Emley continued to attack and some great work by the non stop George Whittaker led to a free kick that eventually came to nothing.
With the rain easing in Rotherham, Shane Hamilton showed some real skill in bringing the ball down superbly from an almost impossible height and angle, but the shot wasn't as impressive as it drifted wide of the right hand post.
Emley were doing all the running and had all of the play,and it finally bore fruit when great work in midfield by Michael Tunnacliffe, saw Andrew Horbury on the end of a through ball and the Emley number 9 slotted home for a well deserved lead.
2 minutes later and the the hosts had their first meaningful attack, but their first real shot of the game sailed harmlessly over the bar, that didn't bother the Pewits who continued to raid the Parkgate defence,
Great play by Hamilton on the right, found Mills, whose shot was brilliantly saved by Parkgate keeper Butt, it wouldn't be the last time he saved his team!
Ben Mills was having a whale of a time on the left edge, cutting inside onto his right and firing a shot just wide, Nathan Howe was the next to be frustrated by the Parkgate stopper as his shot was well saved, Ben Mills was following up but the home defence snuffed out the danger.
It had been almost one way traffic in the first half an hour with Emley continually forcing Parkgate back, but on a rare attack, a mix up at the back between Starkey and Ledger, saw Parkgate almost take advantage, luckily for Emley the shot went wide, however just a couple of minutes later Emley's luck ran out, a deep line was penetrated by a great through ball and Miller finished well, placing the ball into Ledger's bottom left, a real sickener for Emley after being on top for so long, however, the men in yellow and green continued to dominate,Mills and Whittaker combined well, with Whittaker's shot again well saved by butt between the posts, he then saved the follow up shot to once again keep Parkgate in the game, he was at it again right on half time as another good Emley move ended in Whittaker's shot being saved again by the impressive keeper.
H/T - 1-1
The 2nd half began just like the first with Emley on the front foot, and they were rewarded within 3 minutes of the restart, super work by Shane Hamilton on the right, who put a pinpoint cross into Horbury, who in turn played in Mills with a great little pass and the Huddersfield Town youngster coolly slotted home inside the keepers left hand post to the delight of the travelling Emley fans, they almost had cause to cheer again a couple of minutes or so later, when Starkey curled a free kick just over.
Then a controversial penalty claim was turned down, Mills was just about through on goal and appeared to be bundled over by a desperate Parkgate defender, despite the claims of Emley players, staff and fans, the referee waved play on
presumably thinking that Mills had "simulated" a fall but yet didn't book him, a controversial decision, had it been given and scored then at 3-1 the game would probably have been all but over.
A couple of minutes later and George Whittaker, again, found himself with a sight of goal, but this time the defence stood firm and it was cleared, Horbury then went through and tried a chip that wasn't far away.
But Emley then shot themselves in the foot and presented Parkgate with a way back in with some sloppy defending, despite not having that much to do in 70 minutes, the defence creaked and finally burst, conceding 3 goals in the space of 7 mad minutes, first, a through ball completely bypassed the Emley backline and Ledger came rushing out as last man, but the Parkgate man rounded him and rolled the ball into an empty net,
3 minutes later and Ledger is well beaten by a superb free kick from outside the box which flew in,
A minute or so later, another defensive lapse saw Ledger this time come to the rescue with a good save after the Parkgate striker had a free shot at goal.
Parkgate then unwrapped the Pewits' defence for a third time in 7 awful minutes to put the game to bed, yet another mix up at the back was punished,as a low, close range shot beat Ledger, and from 1-2 down the Home side were suddenly 4-2 up and Emley were completely stunned.
Gregg Porter did almost pull a goal back for the visitors with a close range effort that went just over, but Emley were cooked by now and the game was gone.
Things got even worse for Emley, when their frustrations at some of the officiating led to Adam Ledger being shown a straight red card for an outburst at the referee.
Emley were by far the better team for over an hour but couldn't capitalise on the many good chances they created, story of the season really, and were then undone by defensive frailties again, it was an extremely entertaining game for a neutral, but very frustrating for anyone connected with AFC Emley.
F/T - 4-2
Ollerton Town at home on Saturday 29th December is the next game.
AFC Emley: Ledger(A) Stocker, Starkey, Tunnacliffe, Porter, Hughes, Hamilton, Whittaker, Horbury,Mills, Howe: Subs used; Roberts, Kemp, Bird, Unused sub; Silverwood
Attendance - 103
Hepworth Group Man of the Match- Michael Tunnacliffe