Gimme 5: Hot-shot Adam seals Panthers' win

SHELF PANTHERS MATCH REPORT 17 APRIL 2011
Shelf Panthers 8 Hebden Bridge 5

A five-goal blitz by Adam Renard steered the Panthers to their first League win since 23 January.

Having produced a towering display in defence last week, Shelf’s versatile pocket battleship found himself switched to partnering Ryan up front, and the game was less than a minute old when his clever lob over the advancing keeper put the home side ahead.

Three minutes later, it was 2-0. Ryan did well to get to the by-line on the right, and his cross gave Adam a simple tap-in from close range.

Shelf’s third was Route One football at its best. Stand-in keeper Tom Mann hoofed a clearance an unfeasibly long distance from one penalty area to the other, Ryan knocked the ball past the advancing goalkeeper and Robert finished it off.

Eight minutes gone, and Shelf were already 3-0 up. But any hopes of an easy stroll in the spring sunshine were soon dashed. Hebden Bridge pulled one back within a minute, and reduced the deficit to 3-2 ten minutes later with a free header from a corner which had Lee muttering menacingly about poor marking.

Faced with the prospect of playing uphill in the second half, the Panthers knew they needed to add to their lead before the break – and two more goals duly arrived.

First, in the 25th minute, a corner was partially cleared to Ryan, who showed excellent technique to turn and swing his left foot to power the ball into the top right corner of the net from just inside the area.

Then, a minute before half-time, Robert’s great through-ball split the defence and found Adam Renard turning from terrier to greyhound to out-sprint the keeper and coolly slot the ball home.

The second half saw Tom Mann and Dylan both producing prodigious heading feats under fearsome high balls that looked certain to drive them deep into the ground like tent pegs.

And the home side needed to keep battling after the ominously-named Noah scored for Hebden Bridge in the 42nd minute: would this open the floodgates?

But it was Shelf who scored next when Toby burst down the left wing and crossed for Adam Renard to bury the ball with aplomb from close-range.

Adam’s fifth, in the 50th minute, was another goal-poacher’s effort inside the six-yard box after some smart link-up play with Ryan.

But within two minutes Hebden Bridge had reduced the deficit to 7-4, and a somewhat worried coach Richard realised that his team’s 4-0-6 formation might be a shade on the adventurous side.

A superb individual run and shot closed the gap to just two goals and, with 15 minutes left, the visitors began to scent victory.

They’d reckoned without William, though. After winning a tough tackle in defence, the Panthers’ number 3 strode forward imperiously like a modern-day Franz “Der Kaiser” Beckenbauer, shrugging off challenges before picking out the killer pass that sent Ryan in to break through the keeper’s attempted block and roll the ball into the net to seal a magnificent 8-5 victory.