Emley first met Maltby Main in a league game in a Christmas fixture in 1975.  Maltby had just been promoted into Division One and Emley were flying high with real hopes of winning the title.

The match was incident packed, with no less than four penalties be  ing awarded, three to Emley and one to Maltby.  As is quite common at Emley it was a blustery day and Emley started with the wind at their backs and soon went ahead when an Ingham cross found Dennis Brookes who headed in.  Maltby were breaking Emley’s rhythm with what the newspaper described as rugged tackling but Emley went two up with another header, this time full-back Furey finishing from a Sykes cross.

Then came two of the penalties, first Maltby reduced the arrears from the spot and soon afterwards Emley were awarded a a penalty of their own after a foul on Ingham.  However, skipper Pamment saw his penalty saved.

It was two-one to Emley at the break but Maltby came out for the second half with intent and had most of the early play and had chances to equalise.  Emley were restricted to hitting on the break and from one of these Greaves fed Brookes whose shot was blocked by a hand.  Stuart Greaves took over penalty duties and duly buried the chance.  Shortly afterwards came the fourth penalty when S.B. Greaves was brought down and Greaves again converted.  A defensive error at the end saw Maltby get a second, but Emley took both points.

A week later Emley made the return trip to Maltby and came away with a 6-1 victory.  That result put Emley second in the League with games in hand.  By May 1976 Emley would have clinched their first ever Yorkshire League title without losing another league game, starting a run of success that would end with four Yorkshire League titles in all.

Team: Sharp, Furey, Steele, Skirrow, Burke, Ingham, Sykes, S. Greaves, Pamment, Brookes, S.B. Greaves. Sub: Barker

Headlines and photographs courtesy of Huddersfield Examiner and the Huddersfield and District Chronicle