By Martin Eastwood
Emley AFC made it four wins on the bounce as they beat Handsworth 3-2. Goals from Iyrwah Gooden, Joe Clegg and Alex Metcalfe secured the win for the Pewits.
The win over Handsworth at the Fantastic Media Welfare Ground completes a league double over the Ambers who were trounced 6-0 on their own patch in August. The victory moved Emley back up to 3rd in the NCEL Premier Division table.
Saturday’s 2-0 win over Bottesford was Emley’s first home league win since the end of October and they followed it up with another maximum points haul on Tuesday to make it four straight wins and five games without defeat.
The hosts grabbed their first goal on the 26th minute through Gooden. Paul Walker played a ball into his path from the left, and Gooden smacked home his 18th goal of the season.
Handsworth equalised minutes later when a ball was crossed into the box. Emley players thought the ball had struck the Handsworth attacker Joe Parkin’s hand, however the officials didn’t see it that way, and Parkin slotted the ball home to make it 1-1. That’s how the score stayed until the break.
It took until the 61st minute for the next goal to go in. This time it was Emley’s Clegg who found the back of the net. Metcalfe pulled back a lovely weighted ball to Clegg who gleefully smashed home to make it 2-1.
Metcalfe would soon be wheeling away in celebration himself as he scored Emley’s third goal of the night in the 80th minute. A good move from left to right and a defensive lapse saw the ball make its way into the path of Metcalfe who stroked the ball into the far corner to make it 3-1.
The visitors scored a late consolation through Samuel Smith. Despite a nervous last few moments the Pewits saw the victory out to claim all three points.
Emley are back on the road again on Saturday (February 25) when they travel to Cobbydale to face Silsden with an earlier kick off at 1.30pm.
