Winsford United 3 Emley 2

UniBond Premier Division

By NICK SMITH

STEVE Hibbert emerged as the hero of this dramatic match with a 70th minute winner which sent Emley into a double rage.

Just minutes earlier they were demanding for the Winsford defender to be sent off for hacking down pacy Michael Reynolds as he raced towards goal.

But after an argument with the assistant referee over the position of the resulting free-kick, it was visiting skipper Ian Banks who received his marching orders.

The Blues shipped the ball to the other end where Hibbert climbed above a shell-shocked defence to snatch the three points.

United were two up at half-time, but by manager Dalton Steele's own admission, it should have been more.

After Eddie Hussin stooped to head in Dave German's cross on 27 minutes, a string of chances followed.

Winnie Steele could have doubled the advantage but his drive was parried by Andy Rhodes and Colin Lambert was wide with a free header.

After 38 minutes, Steele presented Steve Shaughnessy with a simple tap-in to make it 2-0, but if Shaughnessy had kept his shot down when clear seconds later, Emley may not have found their way back into the contest.

But they did, through Chris Hurst on 56 minutes, and Michael Thompson's diving header on the hour, as Winsford appeared to have blown another three points in a home fixture.

But, as against Guiseley two weeks earlier, a centre back came to the rescue as Hibbert rose majestically to plant Steve Aspinall's corner into the net.

With seven minutes left Hibbert nearly completed a sensational double strike as he again met an Aspinall corner, but this time his header came back off the post.

Winsford: Oakes, German, Heesom, Hibbert, Talbot, Wheeeler, Hussin, Lambert, Shaughnessy (Peel, 60 mins) Steele, Aspinall.

Attendance: 180.

Man of the match: Eddie Hussin.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.