08-08-2016, 09:53
It may have only been the first Sunday in August but on Sun 7th of August the FA cup kicked off for the season at my local club AFC Emley where they hosted Barnsley based Atherton Recreation in a Extra Preliminary Round match, this game would've been held on the Saturday but had to be moved due to the cricket....no they're not massive England cricket fans it's just the Emley cricket team had a home game on Saturday and part of the outfield is the Emley football pitch and it's not a good idea having a man out on he boundary getting tackled by the big centre half.
A good crowd turned up of 319, many from Athersley and they won't have been disappointed in what they saw in the first half with underdogs Athersley going in at half time leading 0-1 despite also having a penalty saved when the keeper guessed the right way, it has to be said the lad didn't place it very well but he certainly hit it with plenty of power.
Second half Emley were much better but still struggled to break through until some sublime skill from Jerome who twisted and turned in the box to beat 2 or 3 men and unleash a thunderbolt across the keeper and into the far top corner of the goal(I'll try and find a video of it). Emley tails were up now and Athersley looked to be defending deeper but as 90mins approached last seasons top scorer Ashley Flynn (73goals) wriggled free into the box and dinked it over the keeper to grab a winner for Emley and the £1500 prize money for winning at this stage.
A good crowd turned up of 319, many from Athersley and they won't have been disappointed in what they saw in the first half with underdogs Athersley going in at half time leading 0-1 despite also having a penalty saved when the keeper guessed the right way, it has to be said the lad didn't place it very well but he certainly hit it with plenty of power.
Second half Emley were much better but still struggled to break through until some sublime skill from Jerome who twisted and turned in the box to beat 2 or 3 men and unleash a thunderbolt across the keeper and into the far top corner of the goal(I'll try and find a video of it). Emley tails were up now and Athersley looked to be defending deeper but as 90mins approached last seasons top scorer Ashley Flynn (73goals) wriggled free into the box and dinked it over the keeper to grab a winner for Emley and the £1500 prize money for winning at this stage.