Horbury cracker seals Emley win

AFC Emley took the spoils in a seven-goal thriller against 10-man Worsbrough Bridge at the Fantastic Media Welfare ground.

In a game that had just about everything – cracking goals, a red card and a penalty – Emley twice had leads wiped out but sealed a 4-3 win late on.

For the second home game in a row, Emley suffered a slow start and conceded within seconds – a long throw wasn’t dealt with and Jamie Austin netted for the visitors.

But Emley soon regrouped and were level within five minutes when a low cross was bundled home by Andrew Horbury for his first goal in the Claret and Blue.

Wayne Hughes then strode out from the back, played a neat onetwo and unleashed a fizzing shot from the edge of the area, beating Briggers goalkeeper Aiden Tyas to score his second in as many games.

Emley’s dominance continued as Ben Mills, Shane Hamilton and Horbury were causing the Worsbrough back line problems.

Horbury was brought down on the edge of the area, as the striker appeared to have a free run on goal, and the referee gave a straight red to substitute Lewis O’Connor.

Then somewhat against the run of play, Worsbrough were awarded a penalty for a foul in the box. Jack Mawson made no mistake and the 10 men were level on 43 minutes.

But on the stroke of half-time Emley captain James Stafford joined his centre-back partner Hughes on the scoresheet with a firm header to retake the lead.

And so an enthralling first half came to and end with the Pewits 3-2 up and looking to finish the 10 men off.

To Worsbrough’s credit they had Emley on the back foot straight away and were duly rewarded on 50 minutes, when a superb curling shot from Liam Owen beating Adam Ledger and finding the bottom corner.

With the game finely poised at 3-3, Horbury picked the ball up 25 yards out in the left-hand channel, he took a steadying touch and then unleashed a stunning shot that, with a slight deflection, flew into the top corner in front of the delighted Emley fans in the Richard Hirst Stand behind the goals.

It was Horbury’s second goal of the game and his second in Emley colours since his move from Glasshoughton.

Emley had snatched the lead back and were determined not to lose it again with only a few minutes left to play, and some solid defending eventually saw them over the line.