Sunday 9 May 2010
Another battling performance today by Panthers, maintaining their unbeaten run. Despite early pressure from Danesmore, Panthers began to work their way back into the game and took the lead on 15 minutes. Dominic Cella saw his shot beat the keeper but crash back off the underside of the bar and with Lewis Ansell following in it was Joshua Eyre with a cultured left foot volley that looped over the keeper who scored the opening goal. However, after some sloppy defending, Danesmore were soon level. Panthers continued to work hard to create chances and it was James O’Brien with a fantastic 35 yard volley, straight from a kick from the Danesmore keeper, arguably the goal of the season, who put Panthers 2-1 up just 5 minutes before the break. Again, Panthers were indecisive at the back and a great Danesmore strike, over the head of helpless keeper James Walters, made it 2-2 at half time.
In the 2nd half, Danesmore began the brighter of the two teams and had Panthers on the back foot right from the start. Their pressure paid off as they took the lead after 10 minutes and could easily have been further ahead had their finishing been more clinical. When Panthers were awarded a free kick 25 yards from goal on 20 minutes, up stepped Andy Vaughan to hit an unstoppable shot high over the keeper and into the roof of the net to level things up at 3-3. Within minutes, after some good work down the right from Owen Davies, Joshua Erye hit a first time shot from outside the box into the top corner for his second of the game to put Panthers into a 4-3 lead. However, Panthers were caught on the break just before the end and conceded an equaliser, which although disappointing, was probably a fair reflection of the game overall.
A great game of end-to-end football today with Panthers scoring 4 superb goals all from distance. A win in our last home game next week against Brewood will see us finish top of the group in the Diamond Trophy, and result in an unbeaten run of 9 games since 14 February to finish the season.
Parent’s Man of the Match : Andy Vaughan
Manager’s Man of the Match : Joshua Eyre