PENDLE Renegades managed to beat the weather and put in a fine display to beat Embsay 4-1.
Renegades started brightly with Jordan Strachan finding his feet backed up by Anthony Reedy overlapping him at every opportunity.
The home side took the lead after 10 minutes, Damon Whelan played a one-two down the right hand side with Strachan and provided a cross which top scorer Matt Nutter rose above the defender to nod into the far corner and make it 1-0.
Embsay struck back immediately though when a long ball over the top saw left back Shaun Bailey bring down Embsay’s centre forward giving away a free-kick right on the edge of the box.
Up stepped Embsay’s Oliver Hunter and smashed the ball passed the wall and past Paul Garner in the Renegades goal to make it 1-1.
This jolted the Renegades into life and the next goal came on the half-hour mark. Right back Anthony Reedy marauded forward down the right flank, played a neat ball into the box which found the feet of Scott Myres.
His effort across the face of goal was back heeled in by Nutter at the near post to restore his team’s one-goal advantage.
Five minutes later it was strike partner Scott Myres who got his name on the scoresheet as he latched on to a through ball, challenged the keeper with a 50/50 and reacted first to the loose ball to slide it into the empty net
Manager Matt Garner told his team at half-time to carry on dealing with the conditions, stay on their feet and make use of both wings.
The second half was a closer contest with both teams having their fair share of chances.
Embsay could count themselves unlucky not to score again with Paul Garner in terrific form, ably backed up by solid performances from Luke Stockdale and first team debutant Michael Kenyon, who adapted to centre back superbly.
All three substitutes were introduced with more than 20 minutes left to play to freshen things up and the game was put to bed with 10 minutes left.
A free-kick awarded to the hosts on the edge of the Embsay box was smashed in off the post by Nutter to complete his hat-trick and make the final score 4-1.
The man-of-the-match award went to tricky young winger Jordan Strachan.
Saturday sees Renegades on their travels when they make the short trip to Bradley, weather permitting.