Batley 5 or 6 Shelf Panthers 2
A rearranged Panthers side put in one of their best performances of the season to give the league’s top team a scare on their own ground.
The omens before the match weren’t good. Batley trounced Shelf 9-0 on the opening day of the campaign and this time the visitors only had 11 available players.
Luke - making a fine debut in goal despite playing with a foot injury - was called into action immediately, blocking a shot low to his right in the first minute, and then tipping the ball over the bar three minutes later.
But, incredibly, it was the Panthers who took the lead with six minutes gone. Robert whipped in a great cross from the right and Toby bundled the ball home at the far post.
A goal-line clearance from Man of the Match Jonny and another good stop from Luke kept Shelf in front until the tenth minute, when Batley hit back with two goals in quick succession.
That could have been the signal for the Panthers to go to pieces, but instead they roared back bravely. Toby fired just over after being played through by an excellent ball from William, then Tom – switched from fullback to striker for the day – headed Robert’s cross against the bar.
Batley made it 3-1 after 21 minutes, but two minutes later Shelf reduced the deficit with a contender for Goal of the Season. The ball was played rapidly out of defence to Robert, whose first touch flicked it round his marker and sent him sprinting down the right before unleashing a high shot which gave the keeper no chance.
His next contribution was equally spectacular – a loose boot which slipped off his foot and flew twenty feet up in the air. Fortunately, Malteser Man Ross – who bravely got his head underneath two high balls that dropped from outer space – wasn’t quite close enough to risk serious injury by trying to nod the Nike size nine fifty yards up the pitch.
The Panthers rode their luck in the dying minutes of the first half as Batley hit the bar twice in the space of a few seconds, then Luke produced a great reflex save from a powerful close-range shot.
Batley piled on the pressure in the second half, but the Panthers defended stoutly until the 45th minute, when two quick-fire goals put the home side 5-2 up.
There was still plenty for the Panthers fans to cheer about, though. Dylan cleared athletically off his own line. Jonny swooped like a swallow to head the ball out of his penalty area. And in the final minutes, Nat’s snap-shot was well saved by the keeper.
More mathematically-astute Shelf supporters may have thought they counted six Batley goals, but the official result posted on the website says 5-2 and – as firm supporters of the FA’s Respect campaign – we won’t argue with that.
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