Burley Trojans 5 Pannal Sports 3

DAN Henderson claimed a hat-trick after a blistering first half performance saw him put his Burley Trojans side 3-0 ahead after 30 minutes. Pannal Sports battled back into the contest, but the Trojans eventually prevailed 5-3 in a thriller.

Burley went into Saturday’s game with great confidence after only losing one game in the league in 2018 and they flew out of the blocks here thanks to Henderson's treble.

A couple of mistakes meant Pannal remained within touching distance. They scored from the spot after a handball by Richard Bryan and another goal meant that Burley could not switch off.

Trojans went 4-2 up just before the break though when centre-back Ben Garnham scored his third goal in two games, neatly heading home from a corner.

Burley came back out for the second-half in similar fashion to the first, putting Pannal on the back foot.

There was some great link up play between Tom Ross and Dom Grimes and Burley could have wrapped the game up, but Simon Walker somehow managed to miss from five yards after Cory Nas had hit the bar with a delicate chip.

The game slowed down as the day heated up and player-manager Tom Higman came on to notch Burley's fifth goal. He beat the 'keeper at his near post and a Pannal defender slid the ball into the back of his own net trying to prevent the goal.

Pannal hadn’t given up and were still keeping Chris Wheeler, Burley's stand-in 'keeper, busy after Garnham was given his marching orders for taking down a Pannal player.

Wheeler pulled off a heroic save from the resulting penalty and although Pannal did grab a late goal against the ten men, Burley held on to take all three points.