It was a case of friends reunited as Sporting Club Inkberrow brought the curtain down on the most successful year in the club’s history with a 1-1 draw against high-flying Malvern Town last weekend.
The Pitching In Southern League Division One South new-boys salvaged a point thanks to a stoppage time equaliser from Tom Emblem, which cancelled out an early opener from Emblem’s childhood friend, Harry Clark, for the visitors.
“It was weird playing against Harry,” Emblem admitted to us. “We have grown up playing football together, so to come up against him was strange to say the least, but it was nice that we were both able to get our names on the scoresheet.
“It was a good game played in difficult windy conditions, which certainly played their part. We rode our luck a little bit during the opening period, but we played a lot better in the second half, so a draw was probably a fair result.
“It was also nice to play in front of a large festive crowd and the atmosphere was really good.”
Having cut his football teeth at Sporting Club Inkberrow as a youngster, Emblem went on to have a spell at Malvern Town before returning to the club and becoming part of their progression, amassing over 150 appearances for the Worcestershire outfit.
“I am really proud to have played so many games for the club,” he added. “I first joined the club when I was six, so to go on and achieve what I have here is one of those stories that football often throws up.
“I never in my wildest dreams imagined as a child that I would go on to help the club rise into the Southern League and also score the club’s first-ever FA Cup goal, which is another proud moment for me.
“It’s been a big step up this season from what we have been used to, but we expected that. A lot of players in the squad have never plated at this level before and we did take a while to find our feet.
“But we’ve adjusted to the added demands and things have gone well. We go into the New Year in the middle of the table and excited by what the second half of the season holds in store for us.
“If we can get ourselves on a good run then we can get into the top half of the table, from where we can target a play-off place.”
The New Year gets underway with a tough trip to Bishops Cleeve on Saturday.
IMAGE: Sporting Club Inkberrow
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