Good in the mud: Shelf's magnificent seven

SHELF PANTHERS MATCH REPORT 16 JANUARY 2011
Hebden Bridge 3 Shelf Panthers 7

A hat-trick from Toby and two goals from Dylan helped the Panthers record their most emphatic victory of the season.

The Hebden Bridge football ground, high on the hills overlooking the town, shares its facilities with two other sports – extreme car-parking and mud-wrestling. Shelf supporters, surveying the pitch before the match, were contemplating a hasty name-change – would they fare better as Hipperholme Hippos?

But the pitch does have one innovation which makes it the Old Trafford of the Huddersfield Junior League – a covered area where spectators can stand and admire the pulses of rain smashing into the unfortunate players.

After a fairly even first 20 minutes, it was Shelf who broke the deadlock. Toby and Ryan – settling in well on his debut – both had shots blocked in a crowded penalty area before Toby buried the ball for his 15th goal of the season.

The home side looked to have equalised within a minute, but the mud came to Shelf’s aid, holding the ball up on the goal-line and allowing Jonny to clear.

Then Adam Renard’s cross was finished off by Dylan from close-range, giving the Panthers a 2-0 half-time lead.

Shelf were faced with playing up the slope in the second half – but fears that they might suffer a similar collapse to last week were soon dispelled. Within a minute of the restart, Dylan finished with aplomb past the advancing keeper after being played through the middle by Toby.

The home side pulled one back in the 38th minute with a superbly-struck shot from the edge of the area which flew into the roof of the net. But within a minute, the Panthers were 4-1 up when Man of the Match Adam Renard steered the ball into the empty net after Toby’s shot was blocked.

Two quick goals for Hebden Bridge midway through the second half gave the Panthers a fright, but – with coaches Richard and Chris cleverly using a series of substitutions to give midfielders a breather on the energy-sapping pitch – the visitors finished at a canter.

In the 66th minute, Adam Renard played Toby through the middle. The Panthers goal-machine coolly took the ball round the keeper and managed to evade a last-ditch attempted tackle by an excitable dog before finishing from a tight angle.

Shelf ended on a high note. Their sixth, in the 69th minute, was set up by Robert, who turned in the area and knocked the ball back for Tom Mann to lash in a shot which was too hot for the keeper to handle. And there was just time for Toby to complete his hat-trick with another cool finish from a difficult angle.