Panthers Rise To The Challenge

SHELF PANTHERS MATCH REPORT 26 SEPTEMBER 2010
Challenge 3 Shelf Panthers 3

A hat-trick from Toby – including a last-gasp equaliser – gave the Panthers a deserved share of the points in a barnstorming display against local rivals Challenge.

The match saw Shelf confronted with a new phenomenon – a perfectly flat, artificial pitch. How would they cope? Would Jonny “Slide Through The Mud” Jones be stretchered off with third-degree carpet burns? Would ex-coach Tony Williams put in a surprise appearance with a Hoover and a container of Shake N Vac?

In the event, the Panthers settled down well and were unlucky to go behind after 11 minutes when Tom Brett pulled off a fine diving save but could do nothing about the follow-up from close-range.

Shelf continued to pass the ball around well, though, and – with Sam putting in a towering display in midfield – they forced a series of corners.

But the Panthers couldn’t convert their superiority into goals and the home side went 2-0 up after 32 minutes with a well-worked move from a free-kick.

Shelf could have halved the deficit just before the break, but Robert’s flicked cross was lashed over the bar by Luke.

Uninitiated spectators may not have realised it, but the seeds of the Panthers’ recovery had already been sown by some inspired coaching by Richard, who scornfully informed Toby after a speculative 35-yard first-half shot: “You’ll never score from that distance.”

Toby’s keen footballing brain correctly interpreted this instruction as “Have a go from further out next time,” prompting him to unleash a 40-yard thunderbolt that flew into the net five minutes after half-time.

Two minutes later, he hammered another long-range effort, forcing Challenge’s keeper into a desperate diving save. A minute later, Tom Mann – whose strong tackles and surging runs helped Shelf control the midfield for most of the second half – rattled the crossbar with a powerful header from Tom Wood’s corner.

Surely it was only a matter of time before another goal came? It did – but this time for Challenge, leaving the Panthers with 20 minutes to pull back two goals.

Toby got the first of them after 56 minutes, running onto a lovely through-ball from Robert and sliding his shot coolly past the advancing keeper.

Tom Brett kept the Panthers’ hopes alive with two fine saves in the space of a minute – first diving to his right to block a close-range shot and then keeping out a dangerous free-kick from just outside the box.

That set up a grandstand finish. Shelf mounted wave after wave of attacks and right at the death Adam Renard’s right-wing cross was flicked on by Robert for the Panthers’ Man of the Match to blast the ball into the net to complete his hat-trick.