5-star Emley turned in one of their most impressive 45 minutes of the season as they thumped local rivals Penistone Church 5-2 at a wet and windy Memorial ground.

Emley were the better side throughout but somehow found themselves 2-1 down at the break but had no such issues in the second half as they showed tremendous character and completely turned the game around to run out easy winners.

Penistone had the best of the early chances, hitting the corner of the bar before putting a shot wide after 10 minutes, it was all Emley after that.

As the rain tumbled and swept across the pitch, Emley got into a groove and found joy down both flanks, Paul Walker on the left, Iyrwah Gooden on the right and plenty of support from striker Joe Jagger and full backs Kelly and Hardaker.

Gooden saw a shot go inches wide as he cut inside, and Church keeper Snaith was kept busy.

But he would be picking the ball out of the net on 22 as a corner from the left was whipped in and Joe Jagger got a deft header to it to open the scoring.

It should have been more as the Pewits defied the torrential rain to sweep up field time and again, Gooden saw another shot go wide as he spun in the area before striking wide, A 20-yard free kick by Walker crept agonisingly wide and last ditch tackling from Penistone defenders kept the Pewits at bay.

It looked like Emley had doubled their lead when a series of attacks on the Penistone goal saw a Scott Brown shot scrambled off the line to safety.

Despite Emley’s dominance, Penistone had an ace up their sleeve- Nathan Keightley, the pacey striker seems to love playing against Emley and he proved the nemesis yet again on 35, in a rare attack for the hosts, from a clearance from a dangerous Emley corner which hit the woodwork, he latched on to a wayward header and buried a shot past Lambton.

Unbelievably, right on half time, Keightley struck again, a fine finish left Lambton with little chance, Emley trudged off at half time, the faces on some of their fans as miserable as the weather in South Yorkshire.

H/T- PENISTONE 2-1 EMLEY

It was with some trepidation that Emley’s supporters took up their positions for the 2nd half, but they needn’t have worried as the men in yellow shirts turned the game upside down in a dominant 45 minutes, Hayden Webster replaced Donae Lawrence at Half time and he caused Church’s defence no end of problems playing through the middle.

Early testers from Jagger and Metcalfe were fired over as Emley got used to playing in that half of the field.

It would take 10 minutes into the half for the Pewits to draw level, Walker played a lovely ball into the box and Iyrwah Gooden beat the offside trap to side foot home for the leveller.

The Emley celebrations had only just died down when they were started up again with a 3rd goal and a great goal it was too.

After good work in midfield by Metcalfe and Webster, the ball was played out to Ross Hardaker on the left wing, he played in an inch perfect cross right onto the head of a diving Alex Metcalfe who had broke into the area to bury home to the delight of the travelling supporters down that end.

Emley were firmly in control of the game now and the hosts were struggling to keep up with Emley’s passing, pace and precision, although they did manage to put a shot wide 20 minutes into the half.

Lambton in the Emley nets was a spectator for most of the next 30 minutes or so.

Emley piled on the pressure at the other end, Metcalfe’s stinging shot was well saved by Snaith for a corner, he repeated the trick from that corner, again from Metcalfe but it was eventually cleared.

Emley would well and truly wrap the game up with 6 minutes to go, another goalbound shot for Emley was stopped from going in by the hand of Tom Charlesworth, penalty to Emley – we love a penalty! – red card for the Church defender, the referee deemed it deliberate handball preventing a goal.

As the rain lashed down again, Joe Jagger lashed home his 16th goal of a tremendous season so far and there was no way back for Penistone now.

The Emley fans still had another goal to celebrate though, on 90 minutes, Iyrwah Gooden took advantage of good work by Webster and Hardaker to roll the ball home from 12 yards and ran to the jubilant and drenched Emley supporters to celebrate an emphatic win.

The Emley fans applauded their heroes off the field as they made it 12 games unbeaten and moved up to 2nd on the NCEL Premier Division table, we look to make it lucky 13 on Saturday when Silsden visit the Fantastic Media Welfare Ground.

F/T- PENISTONE 2-5 EMLEY

Attendance- 414

EMLEY- Lambton, Kelly, Hardaker, Brown, Knowles ©, Paylor, Lawrence, Metcalfe, Jagger, Gooden, Walker; Subs used- Webster, McGrath, C.Smith ;Unused- Pashley.

GOALS- Jagger (22, 84p) Gooden (55, 90) Metcalfe(57)

Moxon and Co Man of the Match- Iyrwah Gooden