Emley AFC's Assistant Manager Steve Nicholson is proud of the teams efforts this season especially with winning the Northern Counties East League Premier division and gaining promotion.

However Nicholson says whilst the players have achieved history this season they can go on to achieve even more greatness by making it a double celebration if they go on to win the NCEL League Cup. The Pewits are currently in the quarter-finals and will play Bottesford at the Fantastic Media Welfare ground tomorrow, 3pm kick off.

On getting promotion Steve firstly reflected: “We went to Goole with a game plan to get promoted, we went with real motivation to get the job done and that's what we did.

“We were in the spotlight and created history for the club. It's 35 years since Emley won a league title so this moment has to be cherished.

“For the game Marcus Pound the vice chairman laid on a coach for the team which is unusual since we usually go in cars to fixtures. However he wanted the whole team to be together and we all really appreciated that. After we'd won, the celebrations were amazing and to come back to Emley and the club, the celebrations lasted long into the night. It's a memory that will last a lifetime.

“This promotion couldn't have happened without people like Marcus and the other volunteers, they are the lifeblood of the club. It doesn't matter the job you do from helping on the pitch to making food off it, we are all together.”

Nicholson added: “Richard said a few weeks back you don't win things very often in football. I don't think the lads realise that when you play non-league you don't win things very often. When you do, you've rightly got to celebrate it. You've got to soak it up and think that this could be the last thing or the only thing that you win in the game.

“The nearest I got as a player was getting 100 points in what was the Conference North back in the day for Emley. We only finished second that season and didn't get promoted because only one team went up. After that the club sadly went downhill until we became nomads. We played in Wakefield for a while and moved around different places before coming back to Emley five years ago. The village is where our club belongs and when it's doing well you can tell the whole area is uplifted. Five years back we were getting crowds below 150. Now we are averaging 450 in attendance which is just brilliant but it has taken lots of hard work.”

Since gaining promotion Emley have played three league games, losing one, drawing one and winning the other. Nicholson reflected on the inconsistency of those performances.

He said: “The two games after the celebrations I think the hardest thing for the lads was the motivation factor. They just didn't have the drive and the determination and professionalism that they've had all year. They've had such a drive behind them all year to go out and dominate teams from the off and I just think that part of it for those two games was missing. That's not to take anything away from Rossington and Golcar in those fixtures. Rossington are a very good side and Golcar is a derby game where anything can happen. However I'm just saying that in those games the first halves weren't particularly very good. We then got a good win over Pickering to finish the league season off. That performance was good and more like how we've played all season.”

With the league trophy tucked away in the cabinet, Nicholson and the team can now concentrate on adding to our trophy haul this season by winning the league cup.

Speaking ahead of our quarter-final tie at home to Bottesford he commented: “Winning the league was brilliant and promotion was our priority, However we have a chance to create genuine history if we can win the cup too. I don’t believe any side in the club’s history has won a double and we are on for doing that this year.

“The lads are up for it. We've spoken about it. We’ve also said nobody's going to roll over and have their tummy tickled so if we are going to win it we need to be motivated and at our best.

“We've got everybody available for the game on Saturday. We know all about Bottesford and we'll be ready for them.

“It is going to be hard to pick the team as everyone wants to play so there will be some difficult decisions for me and Richard to make.”