Emley 3-0 Steels

Stocksbridge Park Steels slumped to another defeat as they lost 3-0 to Emley.

The Steels were playing better football than they did on Saturday against Bradford Park Avenue but it was always going to be a tough ask against the league’s best defence. And unfortunately, it was Stocksbridge’s defence that cracked first. A corner was whipped in and flicked on at the near post. Adam Clayton, alongside a flood of bodies, was at the far post to knock the ball in and give the Pewits the lead.

While Emley did have most of the ball and did test goalkeeper Ben Townsend on a few occasions, Stocksbridge were looking to go forward themselves. They did get one big opportunity at the end of the goal. Jordan Lemon’s cross was headed down to the ground by Ash Butterworth and it opened up for Oliwier Grzelak. The game seemed to pause, as many of the Emley players thought Butterworth had committed a foul, but Grzelak could only steer the ball over the bar.

In the second half, Emley looked the more dangerous team but Stocksbridge didn’t look completely out of it, especially with the one goal margin. But it only took a moment of indecision to take the game away from the Steels. A long ball went over the top and no one for Stocksbridge dealt with it. That allowed Amir Berchil to get a volley and Townsend had no chance to deal with it.

This seemed to knock the wind out of Stocksbridge and Emley would take advantage of that too. They quickly got the ball down the right and whipped the ball in and it was Berchil who got onto the end of it and finished it well to truly win the game for Emley. Stocksbridge have now gone six games without a win.