15 minutes of madness brings Emley back down to earth

The injury-time turnaround against Wigan Robin Park was a distant memory when Marcus Edwards fired home from a Drake Trease cross on just 38 seconds to put Eccleshill ahead.

The advantage was doubled on 7 minutes when Trease picked up a long ball through the middle and skilfully chipped Emley goalkeeper Danny Armitage .

A 35-yard screamer from Ryan Jones made it 3-0 and the game was effectively sealed after only 13 minutes when Trease beat the off-side trap to give the visitors a fourth.

Eccleshill’s Edwards and Trease had already done the damage but continued to cause the Emley defence no end of problems. Following the opening onslaught, Trease went closest, hitting the woodwork with a well-worked effort.

Shell-shocked Emley finally awoke from their slumber with a first foray forward after 29 minutes. A good Doran Jordan cross bounced off Mark Crossfield and out for a goal kick, a half-chance it may have been put it seemed to raise the heads of the home side.

Seconds later, Emley had a goal back. Alex Hallam took the ball up and ran with purpose. When his pass broke to Aaron Joseph, a glimmer of hope was raised as the midfielder’s volley hit the back of the net.

Hallam then took centre stage with two near misses in quick succession, the first a header that sailed wide from a pinpoint Devan McIntosh cross. The Emley number 11 then created space for a shot but the effort from distance screamed over the bar.

But that was as near as Emley truly got to a come back before Trease and Edwards combined to devastating effect once again. The former, when one-on-one with Armitage, unselfishly squared the ball for the latter to make it 5-1 going into half-time.

Although the damage had been done, the second-half saw a much-improved Emley performance.

The deficit was reduced on 57 minutes by Mark Crossfield. He was in the right place to put away a Josh Ingham shot that rebounded off the Eccleshill ‘keeper Carl Contrasier.

Emley continued to press but failed to create any further clear-cut chances and were restricted to speculative efforts. Eccleshill looked dangerous on the break and the front pair continued to harass the Emley back line as both forwards looked to complete a hat-trick. It was Trease that nearly got his third but his effort was watched wide by the Emley ‘keeper as the game fizzled out in the final 10 minutes.

AFC Emley: Armitage, McIntosh (Leech, 45), Schofield, Ingham (Tunacliffe, 66), S Jerome, Sykes, Joseph, Jordan, Crossfield (Haigh, 70), Mugadza, Hallam

Subs not used: Townend, Jerome

Yellow: Sykes, Joseph

Emley Man of the match: Alex Hallam

Attendance: 106