Wood you believe it?

SHELF PANTHERS MATCH REPORT 9 MAY 2010

Brighouse 3 Shelf Panthers 4

Tom Wood scored a bizarre hat-trick as the Panthers rediscovered their early-season form to record their first win in six matches.

His first two goals ended up in his own net – but that didn’t stop him putting in a barnstorming performance to finally score at the right end and pick up the Man of the Match award.

The game was only a minute old when Shelf went a goal behind thanks to Tom’s unlucky deflection from a cross from the left. After conceding 28 goals in their last three matches, were the Panthers facing another avalanche?

They should have been level within a couple of minutes, but Robert’s shot from about six inches out was somehow turned over the bar for a corner. And, as more chances followed, the Brighouse keeper pulled off good saves from Toby and Joe.

Even if they couldn’t find the net, Shelf were starting to play like the side that topped the league table for most of the season, rather than the team that slumped alarmingly in late March/April. Joe rampaged down the right wing; Robert had a new spring in his step and when Brighouse threatened, Luke raced off his line like a whippet to clear.

But after 19 minutes it was 2-0. As the ball bobbled around in the penalty area, Jonny, William and Tom Wood all tried to clear but only succeeded in putting it into their own net, with Tom getting the final touch.

The Panthers refused to panic, though – and it took them just seven minutes to get back on level terms. Their first came from a magnificent piece of skill by Toby. Receiving the ball on the half-way line with his back to goal, he bamboozled his marker by flicking it round him, turning and sprinting clear before firing it low past the keeper.

A couple of minutes later, Tom Wood completed his unorthodox hat-trick with a trademark shot from the edge of the area which curled into the top right corner.

Shelf finished the first half on top and then carried on where they’d left off after the break as Adam Renard’s shot was tipped over by the keeper.

And they wrapped up the match with a two-goal salvo in the space of a minute. First, after 50 minutes, Toby raced onto a high bouncing ball in the penalty area and, despite being challenged by the keeper and a defender, managed to stretch out a long leg to guide it home for his 46th goal of the season. Then Robert won the ball straight from the kick-off to set up Tom Mann’s strike high into the net.

A 66th minute goal for Brighouse – not scored by Tom Wood this time – gave the Panthers an anxious last few minutes. But they deservedly clung on to make sure of fourth place in the league…and local bragging rights for captain Jonny, who was facing nine schoolmates on the opposition side.