Emley miss out on NCE League Cup final after 13-12 penalty shoot-out agony

Emley will possibly feel they should have won the game in regulation time as they did everything but score in a game that somehow ended goalless before Golcar won a nerve jangling penalty shoot-out 13-12, writes Martin Eastwood.

Backed by a strong following at a noisy Skye Direct Stadium, Emley spent most of the first half camped inside Golcar’s half, time and again they had the hosts on the back foot but could not capitalise.

Joe Clegg and Paul Walker twice saw decent chances come and go and the best chance came when great work on the right split open Golcar’s defence and Jake Kelly’s ball in was put agonisingly wide by Joe Kenny.

Clegg had a shot saved and Alex Metcalfe fired the rebound over.

Emley continued their dominance in the second half with Clegg heading over from a corner.

Golcar exerted some pressure of their own and keeper Dec Lambton had to push a deflection wide. The keeper was then forced into two more crucial saves.

Callum Charlton made an impact off the bench for Emley, but was unable to make the most of his promising break.

It was Emley’s turn to hang on in extra-time as Golcar finished strongly, a great chance came and went and a shot was cleared off the line to Emley’s relief. Lambton then came to the rescue with a couple of cracking saves.

Former Pewit Dan Naidole headed over, but Emley held firm then in the last minute thought they had won it when Ned Dry connected with a ball in from the left. But as the fans celebrated, the ball grazed the outside of the post and went wide.

The last chance had gone and it was now the lotteries of penalties.

Emley went up first, Harrison, Dry and Paylor all netted to give them advantage as Golcar missed.

Kenny then missed for Emley and it became tit for tat with both teams firing home from the spot before Rikki Paylor smashed the crossbar, giving Price the chance to win it for the Weavers, which he did to spark a pitch invasion.

Emley are back in action at Barton Town on Tuesday night to finish the league season before they play in the Sheffield and Hallamshire Cup final next month.