It was William Shakespeare who said, after a tough away match for Stratford Under 17s at Pannal Ash in that famous bleak midwinter of 1581, 'our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt'. On that day, the boys of Stratford played plenty of pretty football but had a dismal shot count, with normally lethal striker Christopher Marlowe unusually hesitant in front of goal.
Some 443 years later, Menston Rangers were able to cast their fears aside and come out on top of a close encounter with the present day incarnation of Pannal Ash who until today, like Menston, were proudly protecting a 100% record in the league.
Fleming opened the scoring within 30 seconds of the kick off, having been supplied by Ainsworth, for what must be the fastest start to a Rangers match, but any ideas that this would be a comfortable victory were soon dashed when Pannal began to dominate proceedings. The away team had the wind at their backs and Menston struggled to put passes together throughout the first half. An excellent performance by man of the match Texel in goal managed to keep Rangers in front until shortly before the break, when Pannal equalised with a superb strike.
Menston went into half time with heads slightly bowed but came out with a much stronger second half display, Fleming a dominant figure at the heart of defence. With 20 minutes remaining, good work from Machell led to a strike from Bates which then rebounded to Ainsworth, who could barely miss. And the lead was restored.
A painful seven minutes of added time had Shakespeare spinning in his grave some 220 miles to the south of the Ilkley ground, but the whistle finally blew and, as the Bard of Stratford reminded us in later years, 'all's well that ends well'.