Terrific Teversal stun leaders and reach Senior Cup semis

All smiles from striker Craig Mitchell, who scored two of Teversals goals in their magnificent win over leaders AFC Emley.

Emley not only headed the table by eight clear points, they had also gone 15 league matches unbeaten, winning 14 of them. So for Teversal to beat them 3-1 at Carnarvon Street was quite an achievement that belied drastically their own status in the bottom seven of the table.

Starting brightly, they were rewarded with the lead after four minutes when Dave Cockerill took a quick throw-in that caught the Emley defence napping and striker Craig Mitchell pounced to lift tha ball over goalkeeper Graham McLachlan, who was in no-man’s land.

As the architect of numerous threats, Cockerill became the thorn in the visitors’ side throughout the afternoon, most notably set-pieces, two of which were almost converted by Tom Laister.

Emley missed a golden opportunity to draw level when awarded a penalty after Matthew Jackson had been brought down by ‘keeper Josh Turton as he burst into the box. Kieran Ryan put the spot-kick woefully wide and, eight minutes into the second half, Teversal rubbed salt into the leaders’ wounds by doubling their lead. Once more, Mitchell was the man on target, finishing clinically after Khyle Sargent had headed the ball forward.

Again the visitors hit back, with a free-kick from Ashley Flynn clipping the bar and Ryan being denied by a superb double save from Turton. But again, the Tevie boys responded with a goal as Cockerill’s inch-perfect ball in the 78th minute invited James McCann to run behind the defence and cleverly finish past the advancing McLachlan.

Emley did bag a consolation goal six minutes from time, thanks to a well-executed free-kick by Flynn, but little could take the icing off the Teversal cake and a well-deserved win.

TEVERSAL LINE-UP -- Turton/ Moody (Widdowson 70), McCann, Gregory, Laister, Camm, Weaver, Sargent (Watson 55), Mitchell, Radford (Dickinson 80), Cockerill. SUBS NOT USED: Short, Thistlewaite.

Teversal’s upset completed a double inside five days over league leaders. For in midweek, they had reached the semi-finals of the Notts FA Senior County Cup by beating West Bridgford, top dogs in the East Midlands Counties League.

An own goal just before half-time and a Craig Mitchell strike just after did the trick and earned Teversal a tie in the last four away at either Carlton Town or Shewrwood Colliery on a date to be fixed.