Yetminster Sharks came up short against high-flyers Greyhound at the Shark Pond, but the 5-1 scoreline didn't do justice to the home side who provided a superb response to their recent poor form, matching their more illustrious opponents throughout.
Debuts were handed to full-back and man-of-the-match Thomas Spicer, along with second-half substitute Jacob Williams, with both impressing on their first outings for the club, while returns for Lawrence Hallett, Adam Marsh and Ben Palmer helped to invigorate the Sharks XI.
Yetminster deservedly led after a fine counter-attacking move, culminating in Mark Whitmarsh bursting through onto a Lawrence Hallett pass to poke home past the on-rushing goalkeeper.
The hosts managed to hold their lead for a quarter of an hour but were pegged back when Aron Lawes rose highest to fire home a bullet header from a Greyhound corner.
Minutes later and the Blandford-based side were in front, a corner left uncleared resulted in Tom Waters profiting from the loose ball to tap-in with Stuart Toft and Craig Woolley scrambling to make the block.
Trailing 2-1 at Half-Time but by no means out of the contest, Yetminster came out with purpose at the start of the second period, and were inches from levelling the tie when Mark Whitmarsh's audacious 30 yard effort rattled the crossbar having left Greyhound stopper Matt Wareham dumbfounded and motionless, the deflection off the underside of the crossbar just failing to break the goal-line.
Sure enough, a stroke of misfortune at one end was coupled with another at the other end. Waters claimed his second goal of the game after out-jumping his marker to head home at the far post after another Greyhound corner.
All the while, Yetminster surged forward in an attempt to create an opening that would reduce the deficit. Ben Palmer and Nathan Ruscoe were full of industry, and the positive influence made by left-back Thomas Spicer put the Greyhound defence on notice.
The contest was ultimately decided though as the game entered the last 15 minutes, with a 4th goal for the visitors claimed by substitute Callum Wray, although his tap-in from a looping cross from the right-hand-side may well have been after the ball had already crossed the goal-line.
Yetminster continued to fight on though, and Jacob Williams twice forced Wareham into making a save in the closing minutes, having been introduced to the fray alongside the club-captain Sam Carver on his 23rd Birthday with a little under 20 minutes to play.
There was plenty of to-and-fro in the closing stages, but additional gloss was added to the scoreline for the visitors, and in harsh circumstances.
Aron Lawes broke down the left, and went down in the penalty area under a soft challenge with the use of the shoulder by Stuart Toft, with referee Gordon Kay pointing immediately to the spot, leaving Toft in a state of complete disbelief. Tom Waters stepped up and completed his hattrick with his low and well-struck penalty narrowly evading Craig Woolley into the bottom left-hand corner of the net.
The 5-1 final result would indicate a one-sided affair but this was anything but, in stark contrast to the reverse fixture in Blandford a fortnight ago. The Sharks' run of 6 straight defeats in all competitions coming into this game had been hanging over Ben Jones' side, but calls for unity and a strong showing certainly seem to have been acted upon, with Yetminster rounding out 2015 in a far more satisfactory manner.
After a tough run of fixtures in recent weeks, Sharks' Boss Jones and his Assistant Adam Marsh will target their January matchups with renewed confidence and vigour in light of this far more competitive and vibrant Yetminster performance.
