YULE NEVER WALK ALONE

Shelf Panthers 3 Dewsbury Rangers 4

After the first 20 minutes, it looked as though Shelf were in for a real Christmas stuffing – but they fought back bravely and were unlucky to lose a cracker of a match by the odd goal in seven.

The Panthers were without top goalscorer Tobias Mears, rumoured to be locked in secret negotiations with Blackburn Rovers about replacing star striker Santa Cruz. Meanwhile, defender William Baker was battling fatigue after a gruelling sleigh-ride back from his skiing holiday in the early hours of the morning. And what kind of weather did he come back to? Rain, dear…

Dewsbury delighted their sponsors DHL by delivering three goals in the space of 11 first-half minutes – the best of them a perfect lob from 30 yards with Cameron stranded off his line.

But the Panthers hit back just before the break. Ryan crossed from the right, Robert’s shot was parried by the keeper and Nat seized on the loose ball to fire home his third goal of the season.

With no subs to bring on, coaches Lee Marsh and Tony Williams shuffled their team at half-time with all the tactical acumen of Wenger (a strategy known as Arsene around). They pushed Scott up into attack and within five minutes of the restart he earned his side a penalty when he was tripped in the area. Ryan gave the Dewsbury keeper no chance, blasting his spot-kick high into the net.

Dewsbury made it 4-2 three minutes later with a well-taken strike after a lovely ball through the middle. But the Panthers pulled one back after 41 minutes when Robert made mincemeat of the Dewsbury defence before unleashing a powerful shot for his sixth goal of the season.

The last 20 minutes saw the Panthers camped in the Dewsbury half as they went in search of a deserved equaliser. With Man of the Match Dylan turning in an all-action performance, Shelf created chance after chance.

The keeper pulled off good saves from a shot by Robert and a spectacular long-range volley by Dylan. But the best chances fell to Ryan, who beat the keeper twice in the last ten minutes, only to see his first effort headed clear by a defender and his second scrambled off the line.

In his post-match press conference, coach Tony Williams was positive about the future. “It’s a New Year,” he said. “Time to wipe the slate clean…as clean as this lovely freshly-laundered kit here. Oi – who’s got mud on my bibs?”