Omar Williams was a constant thorn in the Ballstars side, causing havoc in the defense before eventually scoring the games only goal in the 39th minute.

Panthers 'keeper, Erron Ewers, brings down Jamie Brown, but recovered to save Jamie McKoy's penalty.

Ballstars, Carlos Septus, came close to scoring the equalizer. Wendoll Anthony makes a last ditch clearance to deny him a diving header.

The Ballstars 8 undefeated matches came to an end under lights at the A.O. Shirley Ground with the loss, as Jerome Tittle of Panthers produced a display of defensive solidity to down the side who has steadily climbed the domestic rankings with cup exploits and a late run at last season’s championship.

There can be no argument though that the Ballstars, who were missing a few key performers, looked shaky at the back all night and it was from one of many defensive errors that the Panthers opened the scoring.

In the 39th minute, a short goal kick by Troy Cesar put Timon Robinson under un-necessary pressure and he miscued his clearance out for a throw in deep inside Ballstars territory. The throw was taken quickly and before the youngsters had chance to regroup, the ball fell invitingly to Williams. He took a touch and then made no mistake from 20 yards, beating Cesar inside the left hand post to score what would turn out to be the winner.

“I was excited, I know my team wanted to win and were counting on me,” commented Williams.

It could have all been so different ten minutes earlier when Jamie Brown made a scintillating run into the Panthers box, only to be bought down by keeper Erron Ewers, giving the Referee, Carl Barrett, no choice but to award a penalty.

The usually reliable Jamie McKoy placed his shot to the right of the keeper but at a nice height for Ewers to make a diving save. Ewers was also first to recover and block the follow up effort.

Ballstarts Coach Vincent Samuel was quick to defend McKoy for his miss. “He is our main penalty kicker and has scored numerous times from that position. It was just one of those days for us, unfortunate he missed, but if we get another penalty he will just have to step up and do it again.”

Right from the start of the second half, the Panthers seemed content to keep men behind the ball, soak up whatever the Ballstars threw at them and then cause further damage on the break.

It worked well as the Ballstars had started to seize the initiative, with Carlos Septus particularly prominent.

However, he could not turn the Ballstars best chance of the second half as his diving follow up header was frantically cleared away by the Panthers’ defense.

As the Ballstars upped the tempo, Septus again came close, forcing two excellent saves from Ewers who had to receive treatment after one diving stop and was replaced in goal.

The Panthers plan on breaking out with quick counter attacks was also causing problems with the lively Mortimer Gordon looking especially dangerous, but the final telling pass always proved elusive for either side.

“We could have done better, but we held our own against them. They are fitter than us, but we were well organized and contained them. We did what we had to do and three points is very good for us,” said the Panthers Coach Jerome Tittle.

At the final whistle, the Panthers were relieved to have held on for all three points, but in truth it was hard to tell if the underdogs had their day or if the Ballstars had been put in their place. Both teams have a lot of work to do if they are to convert early season promise into a concerted assault on the Championship.