Emley AFC manager Richard Tracey praised his side’s discipline and resilience after the Pewits came through a demanding FA Cup tie against Bishop Auckland, with attention now turning to a historic first competitive visit to Bury.

It took more than three hours of football to separate Emley and Bishop Auckland in the First Qualifying Round, after the sides drew 1-1 at the Fantastic Media Welfare Ground on Sunday before the Pewits secured an impressive 2-0 victory after extra time in Wednesday night’s replay at Heritage Park. Gabriel Johnson had looked to have won the original tie when he converted from the penalty spot with around ten minutes remaining, only for Bishop Auckland to find a stoppage time equaliser and force the replay.

Reflecting on Sunday’s encounter, Tracey admitted the manner of the equaliser was frustrating but felt his side had enjoyed the better of large periods of the game. He said: “I was disappointed we didn’t win, especially conceding so late on. We know Bishop Auckland is a really strong side. They’ve got some very, very good players and the vast majority of those players were playing at Step Three and Four last year, so we knew this was going to be a really difficult tie. I thought they started really brightly and probably had the first 10 or 15 minutes of the game, but after that I thought we controlled it.

“Gabs hit the post, we had a couple of other half chances and Botts wasn’t overworked. I thought we controlled possession for large spells without quite having the quality to open them up. We got the penalty for handball and Gabs put it away beautifully. The first thing we said to the lads after that was not to drop deep and invite them on, but unfortunately they threw four or five forwards on, as you would in a cup game, and we ended up getting pushed back. The lad scored a fantastic equaliser. I was right behind it and the minute it left his foot you could see it was going in. I was really disappointed we didn’t hold on because I thought we probably shaded the game and controlled the majority of it.”

That meant a midweek journey to County Durham, and Tracey’s preparations were made even more difficult by several absences.
Gabriel Johnson missed the replay with a thigh injury sustained following a collision with the goalkeeper in the first game, while Alex Kiwomya had turned his ankle. James Murray was unavailable because of work commitments and Jack Cowgill was also unavailable. With his options limited, Tracey and his coaching staff devised a different approach for the replay, he said: “We went with a game plan. That plan was to let Bishop Auckland have the ball, have a good shape, frustrate them and counter-attack. I thought we did that throughout the game really, really well. Our defensive shape was solid and I thought we started the counter-attacks really well. Our quality in the first 90 minutes wasn’t quite good enough to execute some of those situations, but that doesn’t detract from Bishop. They had a great chance in the first half where we managed to get a great block and save from Botts, and then a great chance in the second half where Shep made an incredible block.”

The plan ultimately paid off after neither side could break the deadlock inside 90 minutes. Emley struck in the 103rd minute when a counter-attack eventually resulted in Diego De Girolamo rounding the goalkeeper and laying the ball across for Rinor Ejupi to finish into an empty net.
De Girolamo then made certain of Emley’s place in the next round himself in the 115th minute, sealing a 2-0 victory after extra time.

Tracey continued: “Once we got into extra time, we said we just needed to keep doing what we were doing. We needed to keep our good shape, keep being patient out of possession and, when we won the ball, get ourselves on the counter attack. Hayden did really well and drove forward, Diego managed to round the keeper and laid it across for Reno to tap into an empty net. We were really pleased with that.

“What we didn’t want was a replication of Sunday, where we dropped off after scoring, and we didn’t do that. We defended higher up the pitch, fought for everything and were good enough on the break to go and get the second. I would say Bishop controlled the ball, but that was our game plan. We wanted to let them have possession and try to hit them on the break, so I was really, really pleased with the win.”

Victory sets up another exciting FA Cup challenge for the Pewits, who will welcome National League North side Spennymoor Town to the Fantastic Media Welfare Ground in the Second Qualifying Round on Saturday 19th September. Tracey knows it represents another significant test for his newly promoted side. He said: “We’re obviously looking forward to Spennymoor now, with a Conference North side coming to us at home. It will be a really tough test. It’s another step up in level in terms of the opposition, but it’s one that we’d like to test ourselves against, so we’re looking forward to that on the 19th.”

Before thoughts can fully turn to the FA Cup, however, Emley have another huge assignment ahead of them. The Pewits travel to Gigg Lane on Saturday to face Bury in what will be the first competitive meeting between the two clubs and Emley’s first visit to the famous ground.
The Shakers head into the encounter in formidable goalscoring form at home, having beaten Ilkeston Town 7-0 before recording an 8-0 FA Cup victory against Wythenshawe. Bury sit sixth in the Northern Premier League Premier Division with 14 points from eight matches, while Emley head into the weekend 14th with ten points.
Tracey is under no illusions about the scale of the challenge, particularly after many of his players completed 120 minutes on Wednesday evening. Tracey commented: “We’ve got a huge game over at Bury, who, as we all know, are a huge football club and a fantastic football club. They’re going in the right direction and they’ve hit a bit of form recently. I think they’ve scored something like 14 or 15 goals in their last two games without conceding, so we know it’s going to be incredibly tough. That’s especially the case with the majority of our lads having played 120 minutes in midweek while they’ve had a free week.

“But we’ve got a couple of days to rest now. We’ll let the lads have no training and we trust them to put their recovery plans together so that we can be ready. It will be an incredibly tough game away at Bury, but it’s one where we want to go there, give a good account of ourselves, try to get three points and move ourselves up the table.”