Imagine being promoted to a higher level for the first time in 25 years and being disappointed that you lost out in the promotion play offs! Well, that’s the unique situation Emley found themselves in in 2024/25, following promotion to the Northern Premier League Division One East as champions of the NCEL, not because of the high expectations but because of exceeding all expectations!

Emley’s target at the higher level was seemingly to survive, survive, then thrive, but things didn’t start out like that, things started better than anyone could ever imagine and carried on until it became clear that the promoted Pewits were right in the promotion mix again! Emley dared to dream about a second successive promotion, but late season fatigue and loss of form saw that dream ended in heartbreak as a 94th minute goal at Dunston in the play off semi final ended another remarkable season for Richard Tracey’s men.

A tough start saw Emley face long trips to Grimsby Borough and then Newton Aycliffe before a home opener to one of the pre-season favourites, Belper Town, 4 points were secured on the road including an opening day 1-0 win at Grimsby, before an impressive 3-1 win over Belper saw Emley sitting second as they made another long trip up the A1 to face Consett, another impressive win, 4-0, then, two local derbies, two wins, 2-0 at Liversedge and a 2-1 home win over Brighouse saw Emley top the table after 6 games, no one predicted that!

Another impressive away win in the North East saw Emley thrash Bishop Auckland 4-0 before a 0-0 draw at Pontefract was followed by the first defeat of the season, a 2-1 home defeat at the hands of North Ferriby, that didn’t stop the Pewits though, those two goals were the only ones conceded in 9 games as a super start to life back in the NPL saw Emley sitting on top of the league with only 1 defeat and only 5 goals conceded, even more remarkable was Emley’s away form!

Following a 1-1 draw at Newton Aycliffe in the second game in August, Emley then went a further TEN league games without conceding an away goal! , a 2-0 loss to eventual champions and title favourites Cleethorpes Town in December was Emley’s first defeat away from home and only the third goal conceded on the road, impressive results included a 4-0 trouncing of local rivals Ossett United in a game which saw Emley’s impressive travelling army boost the crowd to over 800 , a draw at Bradford Park Avenue and a 1-0 win over Heaton Stannington up in Newcastle.

Sadly, we couldn’t keep the superb away record going, despite further wins on our travels at Sherwood Colliery and Brighouse, our away form smashed into the buffers, following our 1-0 win at Brighouse in mid-February, we didn’t win another away game and only scored once more, a 1-3 defeat at Ashington was our only away goal in the last 8 games away from home, but that didn’t stop the Emley fans from travelling in good numbers, often matching or outnumbering the home support in some games.

Our home form was a bit patchy in the early stages of the season, three of our first four league defeats were inflicted at the Fantastic Media Welfare Ground, North Ferriby, Cleethorpes and Garforth Town all picked up maximum points as well as Newton Aycliffe in the FA Trophy, but by the time of the boxing day derby with Stocksbridge, Emley were sitting 3rd in the league and looking like a play-off challenge was on!

That boxing day game saw the match get abandoned after just 6 minutes due to the swift appearance of a hazy fog which refused to shift, it was the second home Yorkshire derby to be abandoned following an injury to Brighouse Town’s keeper back in August, Emley won both rearranged games though as the home/away form was turned on its head in the latter stages of the season.

Emley couldn’t win or even score away from home after February but had no such problems at home, notching up some impressive wins in front of big Welfare Ground crowds, Between Garforth’s impressive 2-0 win in November and Bridlington’s equally ruthless win by the same scoreline in early April, Emley won 9 and drew 3 of those home games, handing out beatings to Stocksbridge, Bradford PA, Ossett and Pontefract along the way, these results kept our play-off hopes alive.

At the start of the season, going into the winter, it was expected that newly promoted Emley’s good start would tail off, but as winter wore on into spring, it became clear that Emley were there on merit, the results and league placings would show that, Emley would be in the top 3 for the vast majority of the campaign, indeed, it was only in game 39 in April that Emley finally fell out of the top 3, this was during a run of form that looked to have finally ended Emley’s play-off hopes.

Sitting comfortably in the top 3, Emley’s impressive away form took a nosedive, starting with a tight 1-0 defeat at North Ferriby in late February, that was followed up by a 3-0 thumping on Tyneside at the hands of Dunston, who would soon overtake The Pewits for the top 3, a goalless draw at Garforth was followed by defeats at Carlton Town, Ashington and then a 2-0 defeat at Belper which pushed Emley out of the top 5 for the first time, with only 4 games to go, it looked like curtains for Emley who had only beaten Ashington, 1-0 at home and relegated Sheffield in the previous 10 games, it soon became a 4 way shoot out for three play off spots, with Stocksbridge, also unexpectedly in the promotion chase, Newton Aycliffe and Belper looking to edge out the Pewits.

A win at home over Pontefract gave Emley 3 vital points to put them back into contention, but then a miserable 0-2 defeat at Stocksbridge on a wet Easter Monday saw Emley outside the play off places for the first time, and needing a win in their final game and hope results went their way, Emley rounded off the regular season with a 2-1 win over Consett and results elsewhere meant we had sneaked into the play offs once again, on the final day!

Unfortunately our fifth place finish meant we had to travel up the A1 once again to face Dunston, the 4th time we’d met this season, we did ourselves proud though and were undone by a late, deflected goal to end our season, but despite the disappointing end, most people connected to Emley were extremely proud of our first season back in the NPL, we also made the semi final of the county cup again, losing out to eventual winners Worksop Town, and gave a good account of ourselves in the FA Cup.

Most people would have been happy with a mid-table finish and look to improve for 25/26 but the ride we were given was a fine one and there was disappointment that it all ended as it did, we finished in 5th place, unthinkable when we kicked off at Grimsby, our attendances continued to grow, 3 of our last 4 home games were watched by over 500, and 9 of our home games were attended by over 500 altogether.

Can we go one better than last year? Time will tell!

Up the Pewits!