Double trouble as Panthers lose top spot

SHELF PANTHERS MATCH REPORT 18 APRIL 2010
Saville Town 10 Shelf Panthers 0
Shelf Panthers 1 Saville Town 8

The Panthers surrendered first place in the league – and their unbeaten home record – to a strong and skilful Saville Town side.

Fixture congestion caused by the big freeze left the two title contenders facing each other in back-to-back matches on successive days.

The first game in Dewsbury saw Shelf produce their worst performance of the season. Outmuscled and outplayed, they suffered a 10-0 thumping. Saville Town were good, but the Panthers made them look like Barcelona, while their star striker was made to look like Lionel Messi (only taller).

Adam Renard provided the only bright spots in Saturday’s display with another terrier-like performance which helped him win the Man of the Match award over the two games.

Lee demanded more effort for Sunday’s home leg – and his team didn’t disappoint. Bolstered by the return of playmaker Tom Mann in midfield, they snapped into tackles, passed the ball around and took the lead after seven minutes when Toby was first to a bouncing ball in the penalty area and nodded past the keeper from close range.

Surely it couldn’t last? It did…for another fifteen minutes. Two good saves from Luke preserved the Panthers’ lead, but he could do nothing about Saville Town’s equaliser after 22 minutes.

Shelf continued to play some neat football, though, and carved out two more good chances – but Dylan’s close-range header was well saved by the visitors’ keeper, and Tom Wood’s free kick was headed just over the bar by Toby.

Then, in the last two minutes of an evenly-contested first half, two classy pieces of finishing suddenly transformed the 1-1 scoreline into 3-1 to Saville Town.

Two more goals in the first ten minutes of the second half ended the game as a contest, but the Panthers continued to put up a spirited fight. Dead-ball specialist Tom Wood had two trademark long-range free kicks well saved before three goals for the visitors in the last five minutes gave the scoreline a somewhat distorted appearance.