The OHAFC 3rd XI endured a miserable end to 2023 with a crushing defeat away to the Old Berkhamstedians on the astroturf in Chiswick on Saturday afternoon, the match abandoned with ten minutes remaining when Harrow midfielder Luke Berry landed awkwardly when jumping for a ball and dislocating his knee. After a two hour wait, Luke was attended to by paramedics inside the changing rooms and taken to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital to undergo an x-ray. Fortunately, the knee popped back into place and Luke was allowed home to recover. Despite the game being cut short, both sides agreed the 6-0 scoreline to the home side would stand.

Having won their two previous games and earned a creditable 2-2 draw at home to the Berkhamstedians back in early November, there were high hopes for a strong finish to the year against the side currently sitting in second in Division Four. But conditions dictated otherwise, with the visitors playing into a strong wind in the first half and never recovering from three long-range efforts of varying quality that flew over the head of keeper Johnny Bowie.

In fact, the men in blue had started the game well enough with a couple of forays down the left wing, Berkhamsted hampered by an injury to one of their players, who limped off just five minutes into proceedings. But with neither keeper having been troubled, the hosts suddenly struck from nowhere. Harrow had comfortable possession midway inside their own half but a square pass was slightly miscontrolled and the bouncing ball was gleefully thumped first-time from over twenty-five yards out over Bowie and into the back of the net.

Remarkably, the pattern was repeated over the next five minutes, with the visitors once more threatening down their left via Everett and Kenderdine-Davies, only for another loss of possession in the middle of their own half to result in another long-rang finish past a stranded Bowie – this one from further out and wide on the left.

The constant gusting wind blowing down the pitch towards the Harrow goal was all the more remarkable given that there was no sign of it during the OH 1s game that had taken place immediately beforehand. But now it proved a serious hindrance to the 3s efforts, the Blues unable to gain any kind of lasting possession inside their opponents’ half. A few long balls gave striker Adam Graham the chance to put the centre-halves under pressure, but wide men Everett and Jordan Holmes were no more than peripheral figures.

Hugo Morrell-Roberts was introduced on the half-hour, replacing Ali Buckley, but the game remained scrappy in the lead-up to the break, neither side able to overcome the wind, with the ball flying over the pitchside fence on numerous occasions. A two-goal deficit would have been a reasonable enough outcome for a tricky first half, but when the Berkhamstedians scored a third five minutes before half-time, the visitors were denied even that. Once more the goal came from a long-range effort, this one the longest of the lot as a first-time shot from fully forty yards out sailed over the Harrow keeper’s head and into the net. At this stage, the hosts could have been forgiven for shooting from practically anywhere.

The three-goal deficit demanded action at the interval and skipper Olly Roberts, watching on from the side in some disbelief at the events that had just transpired, switched to a 4-4-2 formation, Everett joining Graham in attack in a bid to utilise the wind and put the hitherto relatively untroubled Berkhamsteds defence under far more considerable pressure. But even the best laid plans can go awry and within a minute of the second half starting yet another long-range shot made it 4-0. This was almost too easy, with the ball again breaking kindly in midfield and the Berkhamsteds player reacting immediately to fire his effort from thirty yards out into the top corner.

Five minutes later the Harrow keeper was finally presented with a shot he could actually attempt to save and he did so well, diving low to his left to palm a shot around the post. But the strong wind that had so aided the hosts in the first half gradually began to swirl and die down, to the point where it was almost blowing directly across the pitch.

The visitors came closest to scoring when Adam Graham ran through to lob the keeper with an outstretched boot but the shot was cleared off the line, before two further goals in the space of four minutes ensured this would equal the 3s’ joint-heaviest defeat of the season. The fifth was almost a cross from the right wing that flew rather fortunately into the far top corner, the sixth was the first and only goal of the game that involved a semblance of a passing move, the ball worked from right to left before being cut back across the six yard box to allow a simple finish.

If those in blue thought their day could only get worse with the concession of a few more goals in the closing ten minutes, they were wrong. Luke Berry challenged for a bouncing ball midway inside the Berkhamsteds half and collapsed to the ground in severe pain. It became apparent from the reaction of both sets of players that the midfielder had suffered a serious knee injury and when it was clear that he could not be moved, both teams sensibly shook hands on the 6-0 scoreline.

Fortunately, following a call for an ambulance and a half-hour search for a paramedic on the grounds, a stretcher was sourced and Luke was brought inside into the warmth of the clubhouse. The arrival of the paramedics clarified the injury to be a dislocated knee, which fell back into place as Luke relaxed following the administration of some pain killers. He was then loaded onto a proper stretcher and taken by ambulance to hospital for further tests. Although in obvious pain, ‘Bezza’ seemed in reasonable spirits, if somewhat upset that his upcoming skiing holiday would have to be forfeited.

The 3s will return again in early 2024 with Luke hopefully on the mend and memories of this particular game consigned to the dustbin.