Last gasp goal sees Clipstone drop points

Clipstone were pegged back to a 2-2 draw right at the death at AFC Emley on Saturday when the home side equalised five minutes into added time, after the match officials had indicated just three minutes.
By The Newsroom
Published 11th Feb 2014, 07:00 BST

The game was played in horrendous conditions, with 50mph gusts of wind, and when it started raining in the second half, both sets of players deserved credit for making this game a decent spectacle.

Clipstone probably had the better of the early exchanges without having a decent shot on goal.

On eight minutes Alex Hammond broke through from just inside the Clipstone half, beating the offside trap, and from the edge of the 18 yard line sent a low shot past Ed Eley and into the bottom corner to put Emley 1-0 to the good.

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Keeper Ed Eley’s long kicking of the ball with the wind in his favour was causing havoc to the home defence with Kieran Watson, Carl Snowden and debutant Jamie Brown all going close to creating something for the visitors, Brown having the best chance when driving at goal from 22 yards out, only kept out by some good goalkeeping.

On 39 minutes Clipstone won a throw-in 10 yards inside the Emley half. Taken by Gary Armstrong to Carl Snowden, his driven cross eventually fell to Brown, whose shot hit the back of the net.

The second half was very similar to the start of the first with passages of play ebbing and flowing in the middle third of the pitch.

It carried on in that fashion up until the 56th minute when Ed Eley’s long kick out from goal found Rob Paling.

It was his quality through ball that enabled Watson to break free from the last defender and produce an almost copycat version of the opening goal as he shot low and beyond the home keeper to put the Cobras in front for the first time in this contest.

Emley tried their best to break through the Clipstone back four, but Armstrong, Baugh,Austin and Shaw held firm.

It must be said that Carty and Edwards were also working tremendously hard in midfield, Emley only given distance chances.

Time was running out for Emley as three minutes were awarded for stoppages and substitutions. But two minutes after that time had elapsed, the ball was floating around the edge of the Clipstone penalty area, eventually falling to Ryan Pleasants, who whipped a shot over the head of keeper Eley with practically the last kick of the game.

CLIPSTONE: Eley, Armstrong, Shaw, Baugh, Austin, Carty, Brown (Slack), Edwards, Snowden, Watson, Paling. Subs not used: Wisdom, Allan.

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