Emley returned from Hallam last night with another 3 points to maintain their unbeaten start to the NCEL league season.

It was possibly Emley's best win of an impressive season to date, not necessarily through the good, open attacking football, although there was plenty of that at times, but more their sheer bloody mindedness, determination and will to win.

Despite playing most of the second half with 10 men, and against the backdrop of a sold out, partisan, home crowd and a strong wind, Emley overcame it all.

Playing up the famous Sandygate slope and with the wind at their backs for most of it, Emley, and the game made a slow start, although they were the first to mount a serious attack, the Hallam defence scrambling a shot clear, a couple of corners for Emley came to nothing too.

Paul Day in goals for Emley then had to make a fine save down to his right to deny a decent shot from sneaking in and saw a header go wide as the hosts looked to take advantage of going downhill.

Jimmy Eyles, as usual, was starting to be a nuisance on the left channel for Emley, but his shot was saved by Hallam stopper Reay.

But just as it seemed Hallam might start piling the pressure on after a couple of minutes camped at Emley's base camp, Emley took the lead, again, Eyles was involved, working his way into the area and when Savory went to get a loose ball he was sent sprawling by a Hallam defender.

Facing the noisy shed end, Kyle Willis stepped up and calmly slotted the ball into the bottom left corner to silence the home support.

Hallam then had Emley on the backfoot for the rest of the half, Day was called into action again, denying Hallam with his feet when a goal looked a certainty, Emley managed to hold out until half time though.

H/T 0-1

Playing down the slope, Emley would have been hoping to take advantage of their quick counter attacking, and it almost paid off with two decent chances right at the start, Savory found himself with a sight of goal but it was saved by Reay, with Willis firing the rebound over, before Willis was thwarted by the legs of the home keeper.

Day, was then forced into another good save to deny a good curling shot from Hallam, they then had a shot wide as Emley were forced onto the back foot.
But then came the moment Emley were dreading, there had been some fairly physical stuff, some of which was being punished, some of it not, so when Tom Claisse dived in with a heavy challenge, the entire Hallam team, including the goalkeeper who sprinted fully 60 metres to join in, rushed in demanding a red card, it was a poor challenge from Claisse, which the referee saw clearly, players rushing in and surrounding and shouting at the referee like that isn't good to see.

But the decision was made and it was red, probably just about right, and Emley faced the prospect of holding out for another 30+ minutes.

Within a minute though, another quick break from the Pewits saw Alex Metcalfe shooting wide from distance.

Yet despite, having the vast amount of possession, Hallam just couldn't find a way through the stubborn Emley defence, James Knowles had been brought on by now to help shore things up.

Emley then stunned Sandygate with a second and ultimately, winning goal, Jimmy Eyles' tenacity saw him strip the defence of the ball inside the box and as Reay advanced, he poked the ball past him, the small pocket of Emley supporters who had managed to get a few of the sold out 300 tickets down that end were already cheering as the balled rolled over the line.

Not long after, Marcus Haydock got forward and tried a shot but it went wide, and Hallam finally did get their goal with 8 minutes left to play and it was a beauty, from a corner that was only partially cleared the ball fell to left back Birks who slammed a 25 yarder into Day's bottom right corner.

Now Emley would be under the cosh for the last few minutes, but with the hardworking Eyles and Kyle Willis making way for Josh Dickinson and Joe Thornton, Emley had the legs up top to keep supressing Hallam and forcing them back, time and again, Emley put the ball down the flanks and into the corners and asked their front men to work hard to keep the pressure on, they did it magnificently!

Hallam were frustrated, and saw a couple of yellow cards as they couldn't find an equaliser, the nearest they came was having a shot and header cleared from under the bar and off the line respectively.

Emley though managed to dig in really well and led superbly by the experience of Knowles, Price and Riordan and by Man of the Match, Sam Pashley, and despite the game seemingly never ending along with the Hallam attacks up the hill, the final whistle was greeted with relief and pride by everyone in Claret and Blue.

The unbeaten run is still intact, and with a massive test passed, Emley should go into Saturday's tough test against 4th place Hall Road Rangers with plenty of confidence.

F/T 1-2

EMLEY- Day, Haydock, Riordan, Price (c) Pashley, Claisse, Reece, Willis, Savory, Eyles, Metcalfe; Subs used- Knowles, Dickinson, Thornton; Unused- Hughes, Stuart

Goals- Willis (21p) Eyles (71)

Red card- Claisse (61)

Moxon and Co. Man of the Match- Sam Pashley

Attendance- 300 ( sold out)