Emley crash out of FA Trophy with heavy defeat at Bootle

After back to back 4-0 defeats in equally tough matches it got even worse for the Pewits as they were crushed 5-0, writes Martin Eastwood.

Despite the result, Emley had their chances and on another day could have scored goals themselves, but the problems seem to be at the other end of the field as they have now conceded 13 in their last three matches and have been dumped out of both the FA Cup and FA Trophy.

The game was pretty even for the first 20 minutes, Bootle enjoying the early spell, earning a corner, then seeing Emley block a shot from the follow-up before Ben Bottomley was called into action to make his first, fairly regular save.

Emley came to life on 10 minutes, Ejupi, Stacey and De Girolamo combining well before Stacey, then Gabriel Johnson saw shots blocked.

With the game a quarter of the way in, Emley lost their way slightly and gave the advantage to Bootle and despite an offside appeal Hodkinson scored when he shot past the onrushing Bottomley for the opening goal.

Emley looked to hit back immediately, a short corner after Johnson bludgeoned his way through found its way to Haswell but he slipped as he was taking the shot and the chance was gone.

And two minutes later, Emley's task became harder when Bootle struck again, a throw-in from their left headed in at the near post by Hughes.

There was almost a third for Bootle as they put immense pressure on the Emley defence, a header wide, a shot that flew wide and then another chance went begging as Bottomley again came off his line to repel another attack.

Emley showed some good attacking prowess themselves. A good burst down the right by Ejupi saw the ball cleared but as he picked it up again he was clattered 20 yards out. The free-kick from Lindley was hammered away by a home defender, then, the visitors’ best chance almost led to a fine goal, a good ball out to the left found Coban Bird who whipped in a lovely ball from the byline and found De Girolamo with a lovely cushioned volley but it hit the post and bounced straight back into the beaten keeper’s hands, luckily for the hosts.

It was to prove the last real hope for Emley with the tie effectively taken away from them early in the second half when Bootle got their third as Fenton headed home from a free-kick.

To their credit, they did keep going and substitute Alex Kiwomya got on the end of a nice ball again from Bird only for the home keeper to make a brilliant save.

Emley were then desperately unlucky not to find the net as another good run by Kiwomya saw him lay off to Johnson but just as he was about to pull the trigger, a Bootle boot got a touch on the ball.

Haswell's free-kick was deflected for a corner then Johnson could not get enough power and pace on a shot which the keeper claimed.

Edy Maieco thought he had fashioned a chance for a debut goal after coming off the bench, but his shot hit the side netting as the offside flag was raised.

Bootle then added two more goals to rub salt into Emley’s wound and the Pewits now need to pick themselves up and look to pick up league points with some catching up to do, starting on Tuesday when Workington visit the Fantastic Media Welfare Ground.