The OHAFC 2nd XI bounced back in style from last weekend’s awful defeat at home to the Old Epsomians with their best performance of the season to defeat the Old Sennockians 1-0 on the Hill. The Blues shone in the first half, playing some excellent football and dominating possession, taking the lead on the half-hour mark when David Lederman curled a free-kick into the box and Pablo Hutchinson rose highest to flick the ball over the keeper. The visitors responded after the break, pinning the Blues inside their own half for long spells, but the hosts defended stoutly to ensure maximum points were gleaned.

This was exactly the response skipper Geoff Taunton-Collins would have wanted from his charges following the somewhat embarrassing loss to the Epsomians that saw the Blues somehow concede six times to ten men in seventy minutes of football. The home side were as confident and precise on the ball here as they were sloppy and unsure last week; as resolute and disciplined in defence as they were meek and disorganised.

The platform for this win was constructed on an excellent first half performance that saw the Blues in control for long spells, albeit struggle to create too many clear-cut chances. The return of Alex Ellis to the heart of the defence lent a solidity and confidence to the back four, with the hosts passing the ball out from the back with purpose. The newly-formed midfield of Lederman, Murray Barr and John Russell, playing together for the first time, dovetailed perfectly, ensuring a smooth blend of industry, organisation and quality on the ball. Further forwards, Pablo Hutchinson, making his first appearance of the season, looked sharp, the ball not quite running for him on several occasions.

The Blues were given a scare midway through the half when a through-ball caught the back four static but keeper Rory Craig stood tall until the last moment, making an excellent block with his body. Other than that it was pretty much one-way traffic, the OHAFC forcing numerous corners which they failed to convert, before finally relying on another set-piece to take a deserved lead: Lederman curled a free-kick in from the left and Hutchinson timed his jump to perfection, beating the keeper to the ball and glancing it into the net. The only slight regret at half-time was the slender nature of the lead.

Little needed to be said at the interval, the instructions simply to try and replicate every aspect of the forty-five minutes that had just been played. Ed Massey and James Cleverly both came on, Jack Robinson and Dougal Barr, who had worked hard on the wing in his first outing in OHAFC colours, the men to go off.

The Sennockians also made three changes of their own at the break, but it was a shift in attitude from the visitors that made the biggest difference, with the men in red now pushing further up the field and closing down far more aggressively onto the previously comfortable Harrow back four. The result was that the ball spent far longer in the Harrow half, with the hosts now having to concentrate for long spells on the defensive side of their game. This they did to good effect, with Craig well protected in the Harrow goal. A few corners were forced, all of them curled beyond the back post and met by the giant centre-half who had come off the bench. Fortunately, his aim was askew and each header flew wide of the far post.

The visitors came close to levelling twice late on: a low, driven cross-shot that beat the keeper but rebounded away off the foot of the far post, then a break through the middle that saw a low shot draw a superb reaction save from the Harrow stopper, Craig instantly sticking out his left leg to divert the ball to safety.

The hosts were aided in their efforts to see out the victory when a Sennockian was sent to the sin bin for the final ten minutes of the game for making his feelings known rather too strongly to referee Kacper Ignatiuk. From this point on, the Blues did an excellent job of playing further up the pitch, even threatening to score a second on several occasions. One final attack down the left saw Cleverly eschew a clear run on goal to carry the ball into the corner and use up the last few seconds. A job very well done for the OHAFC, who climb to seventh in the table with two wins and two defeats from their four games played ahead of next weekend’s visit of the Old Alleynians 3s to the Hill.