A hat-trick from Doug Pratt, with a little assistance from the opposition, helped the OHAFC 2nd XI return to winning ways on a sunny Harrow School astroturf on Saturday morning, the hosts running out 4-2 winners against the Old Carthusians 2s. Oddly enough, despite the comfortable winning margin, the Blues’ performance itself never really rose above the perfunctory – something unlikely to concern skipper Geoff Taunton-Collins or his squad as the three points helps the side climb into third in Division Three, their highest League placing of the season.

With recent fixtures on the Hill being played on the heavy Phil pitches, the OHAFC hierarchy were in full agreement that an outing on the artificial surface on the other side of the Hill was likely to provide far better conditions for both sides than the clogging mud endured recently. This was also a first ever meeting between the sides in Division Three, going back to the 2009/10 season when OHAFC stats began. Ten fixtures in the division above had produced three draws, six wins for the Carthusians and a solitary win for the Blues – in the last season the teams had locked horns, 2021/22.

Six players remained from that particular victory, including the returning Will Monroe, in action for the first time this season having been given a cautious all-clear to return to action following a debilitating joint condition. A similar welcome was afforded to George Gould, back for his first OHAFC appearance in two years following a serious ankle injury and Doug Pratt, last seen in an England shirt at St George’s Park as part of the partially sighted squad – with three lions on his shirt, Doug had been thrust into a striker’s role and with Owain James absent, skipper Geoff Taunton-Collins had no hesitation in asking ‘Pretty’ to reprise that role on this occasion.

And that decision appeared inspired when the veteran of nearly 50 OHAFC appearances made a nuisance of himself inside the first ten minutes, closing down a loose ball on the left and forcing the defender into a fractionally under-hit backpass to the keeper. Pratty had no hesitation in flying into the challenge, just getting to the ball first on the stretch to fire it into the back of the net from the edge of the box, collecting a kick on his ankle as a reward.

But as has been seen so often in OHAFC 2s games this season, promising early situations have been no indicator of a convincing ninety minute performance and, following a fairly untidy ten minutes, the visitors were level with a rather fortunate goal. The ball was flying around in midfield, neither side able to assert any kind of dominance. A Harrow pass forwards was thumped clear by a defender, the ball whizzing within inches of referee Julian Courtenay in the centre-circle before landing at the feet of a Carthusian. He turned and played a through-ball to the striker but it was only after a couple of ricochets off both the attacker and centre-back Alex Ellis that the ball ran perfectly into his stride and he finished past keeper Rory Craig with the minimum of fuss.

A very humdrum first half was notable for little else other than the two goals and two injuries which forced Taunton-Collins into making changes far earlier than planned – Ellis was forced to limp off soon after the Carthusian equaliser with a tweaked hamstring, Lederman lasted until just before half-time before his tight quad gave up the fight. Fortunately, in came two quality replacements in Monroe and Gould, the former slotting in at left-back with Callum Barrett moving central alongside Giacomo Grasso, the latter a straight swap in midfield.

It was almost impossible for the second half to be as dreary as the first and there were some encouraging early signs for the hosts when they created a couple of highly presentable chances within the first few minutes of the restart. Callum Barrett produced a superb raking long pass into the box that saw Miles Kellock attempt a spectacular overhead kick. From the resulting corner, George Gould whipped the ball to just beyond the far post where the fast-arriving Taunton-Collins failed to control his volley, firing high over the bar from no more than a couple of yards out.

But the determining period of the game arrived soon afterwards, totally unexpectedly, when a Carthusian player was sent to the sinbin for ten minutes by referee Courtenay for querying a free-kick decision. Almost immediately play became concentrated in the visitors’ half and just before an hour was on the clock, two goals in the space of a minute turned the game irrevocably in Harrow’s favour. Kellock provided the first, prodding the ball through from midway inside the Charterhouse half allowing Pratt to run on and finish first-time, and then, straight from the kick-off, the Blues won back possession, Dolbey feeding the striker on the left of the penalty area and he took a touch inside, throwing his marker off balance, before curling the ball into the far corner.

Carthusian mood soured further soon afterwards when Ludo Palazzo clattered into an opponent with a late challenge in the middle of the pitch, the resulting yellow card fully deserved. The return of the sinbinned player led to a more even period but the hosts never felt under significant pressure, dealing with a couple of corners comfortably enough, a long-range volley flying miles wide of the target. When Tristan David then scored his sixth goal of the season, latching onto a Dolbey pass on the right before cutting inside and curling a shot off the inside of the far post, the result was beyond any doubt.

The Carthusians were rather gifted a second almost immediately afterwards, Harrow keeper Rory Craig initially making a good save from a powerful long shot but spilling the ball as it returned to him to allow the simplest of finishes into an empty net – perhaps understandable given that his hands were frozen solid such was the lack of demand for his services prior to that moment.

But there were no further calamities and the Blues saw out the final quarter of an hour with the minimum of fuss to record a much needed win ahead of next weekend’s visit of the League leaders, the Old Merchant Taylors, to the Hill.