Leading scorer James Breeden returned to action for the OHAFC 1s on Saturday and once again re-emphasised his value to the side with an excellent hat-trick in the Blues comfortable 3-0 win over bottom side Reptonians. The victory keeps Yunus Sert's men in touch with the Division One pacesetters ahead of next weekend's Dunn Cup replay at the Old Alleynians.

James was not the only attacking player to return to the lineup with Dan Firoozan and Will Bamford also making welcome appearances - Ciaran Jordan, having played well in his first two games for the side, unlucky to be the man to drop to the bench. There was also a familiar face on the sidelines, with former 1s centre-half Fred Milln finally having completed his 15 holidays for the year and in attendance to run the rule over this season's promotion hopefuls.

The hosts began the game in the ascendancy with an extra man in central midfield allowing plenty of possession - Bamford on the right the main outlet in the early stages. Repton were organised and defended well, keeping much of the play in front of them. The final ball, as ever, was proving elusive. That was until just before the half-hour mark when a Fred Richardson cross caused panic in the Repton box. Alex Gilbert collected the ball at the back post and teed up Breeden, who took one touch to control before firing home with his left foot.

The second goal, less than ten minutes later, was even simpler: centre-back Poulter spied the goalscorer making a run behind the Repton back four and delivered a perfect pass through. The club's leading scorer this season made it look easy, rounding the stranded 'keeper with ease before finishing into an empty net.

Despite the 2-0 lead, the second half proved a frustrating one for the hosts. Repton changed their shape and began to dominate the midfield that in the first half had been the preserve of Messrs Hill, Firoozan and Alex Breeden. Harrow's shape began to fracture and tempers began to fray as the expected comfortable journey to victory failed to materialise.

Former skipper Poulter made one superb intervention to keep the lead in tact, sprinting back to foil a potential one-on-one after a Harrow break had unexpectedly broken down in the middle of the pitch. Emre Sert in the Harrow goal had been relatively untested but pulled off an excellent save, diving full length to turn a curled free-kick past the post.

The game degenerated into something of a scrap with precious little football of any quality being produced by either side. Fortunately, with a quarter of an hour remaining any hopes of Repton resurgence were summarily ended when Alex Breeden spotted an opportunity from a throw-in, sending the ball quickly down the line for Bamford to chase. He stole in behind the left-back and pulled the ball back for James Breeden to run onto and fire first-time into the far corner - remarkably, his ninth goal of the season in just five appearances.

Despite the result now being a formality, the rather testy atmosphere continued with further frustration at the lack of coherence in the football being produced. The hosts saw out the game comfortably enough and can take encouragement from another win despite being far from their best. Nevertheless, a much improved display will be required next weekend if the team are going to overcome Division Two leaders Alleynians in the much-anticipated Arthur Dunn Cup replay.