The OHAFC 2nd XI travelled the short journey to Wandsworth to face KCS Wimbledon 2s on Saturday with a surprising amount of hope in their hearts despite the 6-0 mauling suffered at the hands of the Alleynians a fortnight ago.

And there were several reasons to be optimistic too. Less than a month earlier the same opponents had been outplayed in a 6-2 friendly victory that augured well for the start of the season. The side’s leading scorer over the past decade, Gbeminiyi Soyinka, was ready to play again having missed the opener with a knee injury. The injury still restricted Bem to a subs’ role, and with Harry Hoffen’s back having failed to recover fully, skipper Geoff Taunton-Collins was forced to use himself as an emergency striker for the first half.

Elsewhere, vice-captain Kyri Pittalis returned between the sticks, with Jamie Barwick, Spencer Crawley and Pablo Hutchinson all making their season bows, the latter clearly having enjoyed his summer immensely. Dan Abu showed excellent commitment to travel down from Oxford for the game and he began on the side along with Soyinka.

For the second week running, and somewhat bizarrely given that it is still September, the Blues found themselves playing on an artificial surface, with the Southfields Aspire pitch comparing poorly to the new surface at Harrow used a fortnight ago.

It also became apparent, after an opening ten minutes during which the Blues saw little of the ball, that this game would bear little similarity to that witnessed in the friendly back in August. KCS passed the ball with purpose, spreading the play down both sides and asking early questions of a shaky-looking Harrow back four. That the scoreline remained blank after this early pressure owed much to some imperious defending from Alexi Pittalis at centre-half – another player making his first appearance of the season. Numerous times Wimbledon balls into the box were cleared via Alexi’s head or boot, with von Hirsch, Woolley and Barwick all doing likewise.

It took the visitors a quarter of an hour to settle, but once they did, it became clear that the hosts had some weaknesses of their own. Despite both Wimbledon centre-halves being well over six feet tall, they both struggled consistently under high balls, misjudging the bounce and hack clearances in all directions. Taunton-Collins set a fine example, hassling and harrying them into several mistakes and allowing the Harrow side to move as one up the pitch. Hutchinson on the right and Alhadeff on the left both began to see more of the ball and the contest soon flowed from one end to the other as Harrow’s passing matched that of their opponents.

Wimbledon were given a scare on the half-hour when Hutchinson broke down the right, squared to Lederman on the edge of the box and the veteran nearly scored a beauty, dribbling past his man before curling a left-foot shot against the top of the post.

But moments later the visitors did take the lead. Again the goal came down the Harrow right, this time Taunton-Collins ignoring cries for a pass backwards to drive down the wing in his own inimitable style and deliver a low, driven cross for Alhadeff to turn in at the back post.

Wimbledon continued to threaten on a regular basis with Pittalis called on to make one excellent save, diving full-length to his left to turn a shot round the post. The hosts also forced a number of free-kicks and corners that Harrow managed to deal with, mainly by jumping with their opposite men sufficiently to prevent any clean headers on goal.

Several Harrovians looked tired at the break with Lederman being given a rest and Soyinka and Abu both seeing their first action of the afternoon. Skipper Taunton-Collins stressed the need to continue to press the opposition and harry them into mistakes, whilst at the same time eliminating the unnecessary free-kicks that had punctuated the latter stages of the first half.

That instruction went out of the window a minute into the half however as Hutchinson leant in to control a bouncing ball on his chest and was, incorrectly as it turns out, adjudged to have used his arm. The ball was delivered in to the Harrow box and one of the two centre-halves stole in unmarked to head past a helpless Pittalis.

The goal lifted Wimbledon spirits and they began to dominate the game. The hosts were now the ones hassling and harrying and, as a result, Harrow’s play lost all fluency. Soyinka managed to bulldoze his way through a few times but he was crowded out before he could strike on goal. Hutchinson and Alhadeff, so threatening prior to the break, were starved of the ball and did little with it whenever it did arrive.

Despite the switch in momentum, Harrow continued to battle bravely, Abu, Crawley and Beeley working like dervishes to prevent Wimbledon breaking through. Alexi Pittalis continued to read the game superbly, intercepting and clearing with a minimum of fuss.

It was considerably frustrating for the visitors that with a quarter of an hour remaining a fortunate ricochet was to provide the winning goal for Wimbledon. Conti von Hirsch challenged for a ball in midfield and broke kindly for Mike Tillies who showed good strength to hold off the Harrow man and run on to plant his shot beyond Pittalis into the far corner.

It was tough on the visitors who battled gamely but, for the second game in succession, appeared to run out of puff the longer the game went on. With fit centre-forwards thin on the ground and Jack Alhadeff away for the visit of Eton, the 2s need to rediscover their goalscoring threat of last season if they are going to begin earning their keep in Division Two.