Leaky defence sinks Emley despite goals
AFC Emley returned home from Rotherham empty handed after a 4-2 defeat to Parkgate, but only have themselves to blame for a disastrous last quarter in which they conceded three times and had keeper Adam Ledger sent off for having words with the referee.
In a thoroughly compelling game from start to finish, Emley will probably feel they should have bagged three valuable points, instead they handed Parkgate an early Christmas present.
Emley were out of the blocks in blistering time. Within two minutes, the excellent Ben Mills was through on goal but his chip shot was just off target.
The Pewits were doing all the running and it finally bore fruit when great work in midfield by Michael Tunnacliffe saw Andrew Horbury on the end of a through ball and the Emley number nine slotted home for a well deserved lead.
It had been almost one way traffic in the first half an hour but Emley’s luck ran out. A deep line was penetrated by a great through ball and Miller finished well for 1-1.
Emley continued to be frustrated by the Parkgate stopper until three minutes into the second half. Shane
But Emley shot themselves in the foot with some sloppy defending. Despite not having much to do for 70 minutes, the defence creaked and burst, conceding three goals in the space of seven mad minutes. First, a through ball completely bypassed the Emley backline and the Parkgate man rounded Ledger and rolled the ball home.
Three minutes later and Ledger was well beaten by a superb free kick from outside the box. Parkgate then unwrapped the Pewits’ defence for a third time to put the game to bed.
Things got even worse for the visitors, when Emley’s frustrations led to Adam Ledger being shown a straight red card for an outburst at the referee.
Emley were by far the better team for over an hour but couldn’t capitalise on many good chances – story of the season really – and were once again undone by defensive frailties.