The OHAFC 1st XI returned to winning ways in style on Saturday, putting the memory of last week’s surprising 4-1 home defeat to Old Brentwoods firmly behind them. Whether or not the 8-1 shellacking of Division One bottom dwellers the Old Wellingtonians is sufficient to earn promotion remains to be seen: with three games remaining the Blues are locked firmly in a three-way battle with Brentwoods and Berkhamstedians for second place in the division behind runaway leaders the Old Bradfieldians.

Saturday’s fixture followed recent the recent unpleasant trend of being played in the rain, in bitingly cold temperatures on the Hill. Fortunately, there were goals aplenty to entertain those hardy enough to stand on the sidelines and a chance for leading scorer James Breeden to once more fill his boots. He didn’t disappoint.

The hosts were three to the good by half-time, all three scored by Breeden himself, completing his fifth hat-trick in OHAFC colours this season. The first came via a Freddie Brunt free-kick that wasn’t properly cleared, the second a simple through ball allowing the youngster to fire into the far corner. He completed his treble just prior to the break with another consummate strike.

At half-time referee Hugh Wylie feared the worst and suggested an early termination to proceedings should things get out of hand. But Harrow had no intention of taking their foot off the gas.

The fourth came courtesy of a penalty, Josh Adejokun nudged over inside the box and Brunt calmly finishing from twelve yards. Alex Gilbert then added two more, the first a close-range finish following a scrappy build-up. In between his two goals, Wellington did manage to avoid a whitewash but even then they had to rely on a Harrow player scoring for them: a long ball over the top caused hesitation in the Harrow defence and Fred Richardson inadvertently headed past McGuinness, not realising his ‘keeper had come out to claim the ball.

But that was the solitary moment of joy on an otherwise dismal afternoon for the Wellingtonians. James Breeden scored his fourth and Harrow’s seventh with the best goal of the afternoon, a delightful flick over the goalkeeper and finish into the top corner and substitute Will Bamford rounded things off shortly before the end, another close-range finish following a penalty area scramble.

The Blues have three fixtures remaining: a home game against Cholms is sandwiched between trips to Malvern and Aldenham. Wins against all three may yet be sufficient to finish ahead of both Brentwoods and Berkhamstedians in the race for promotion, with all the signs suggesting it will go down to the final afternoon of the season.