CROWD HAIL BATTLING PERFORMANCE

Shelf Panthers 2 YMCA 6


Urged on by shouts of “Tora, tora, tora” from Coach Tony “Kamikaze” Williams, the Panthers launched wave after wave of attacks as they threw caution to the icy winds in a breathless second half.

Playing down the Hipperholme slope in wintry weather more reminiscent of the Battle of Stalingrad than Pearl Harbour, Shelf turned their back four into a back three after the break and set about trying to overturn a 4-1 deficit.

Unfortunately, all descriptions of the away side’s four first-half goals have been obliterated by a notebook-rotting combination of rain, hail, sleet and snow (all at the same time). Fortunately, a detailed account does survive of the Panthers’ reply after 18 minutes, which followed great work by Toby. His strength and persistence took him past three players wide on the left, and his cross was whipped in venomously, forcing one of the YMCA defenders to head it past his own keeper.

The home side were unlucky not to reduce the arrears immediately after half-time. First, Ryan’s corner dropped perfectly into the six-yard box and in the resulting melee the ball bobbled tantalisingly on the line before being scrambled to safety by the keeper. Then, a minute later, Robert’s shot deflected wide off a defender.

Ryan and Sam both came close as the Panthers committed more men forward, but after 46 minutes the visitors made it 5-1 on the break.

Shelf’s heads could have dropped after that, but they fought back gamely and Toby pulled one back seven minutes later when he controlled the ball on the edge of the box and shot with deadly accuracy into the bottom right-hand corner.

Toby almost grabbed another one with a twisting header from a pinpoint cross from Man of the Match Robert, but YMCA immediately worked the ball up to the other end and made it 6-2 following a goalmouth scramble after the ball rebounded off a post.

Credit to both teams for putting on an entertaining display in foul conditions on a day when two other matches in their league were abandoned due to “inclement weather conditions” – and congratulations to Luke for picking up the Cadbury Trophy for services to heading.

After the match, Coach Tony Williams whispered: “There’s no need to shout. Ooh, my head. I shouldn’t have had that last pint of fabric conditioner.”