Recap
New signing Josh Scott took his place in midfield as Bishops welcomed second placed Emley to Heritage Park on a bright, sunny, early spring afternoon.
The first threat on either goal came when a Hopson free kick was deflected high into the air, and the ball bounced down onto the Emley crossbar before being cleared to safety.
It was another Hopson free kick that led to the opening goal on 25 minutes after Robertson was hacked down. Walpole, making his debut for Emley in goal, failed to hold on to Hopson’s effort, and Brown followed in to force home from a few yards out.
Bishops had managed to restrict the visitors to a single effort on goal, but six minutes from half time, Robertson was beaten down the Emley right hand side and a cross into the box was diverted past Norton by Clegg to level matters.
The majority of the crowd breathed their first sigh of relief during a challenging second half when a ball over the top released a visiting forward, but Norton got a touch to divert the ball into the side netting.
Scott showed a couple of nice touches before unleashing a shot that Walpole fumbled, but then gathered. After that, it was the visitors’ threat that grew stronger. Norton was called into a succession of crucial saves, the best from substitute Rodrigues, when he saved from point blank range.
After weathering the storm and with 90 minutes up, Hume found space in midfield to feed the ball to Wright, who sprinted forward and squared the ball perfectly for Thexton to side foot home. Jubilant scenes followed, and Bishops saw out the preceding seven minutes of stoppage time to secure a huge three points.
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