Old Johnians 3 OHAFC III 0

The 3’s travelled down to Surrey against Old Johnians for their second game of the season ready for a fight after their initial game ended, uncharacteristically, with 3 goals conceded in the last 10 minutes. With some fresh faces and some young blood in Jesse Duah, it’s fair to say that spirits were high and the chances were seemingly strong.

After finally getting 11 men on the pitch, the game started very evenly with both teams trying to control the ball in the middle of the park. Unfortunately, the first blood was drawn by Old Johnians on the half hour mark, a cheeky ball over the back four let in their left midfielder who finished coolly past the new man between the sticks – Michael Nugent.

Harrow came back strong after going down, feeling that 1-0 was not a fair result going into half time. Some controlling play from Jorel Bajwa in the middle meant that Jesse Duah had some space to use his pace in the final third. Harrow let two or three chances go begging before half time - a couple of great balls in from the right courtesy of Hussein Janmo went whizzing across the face of goal – but to no avail. You couldn’t help but think that converting one of those would have drastically altered the final result…

The first 15 minutes of the second belonged to the OH’s. Chris Thorn and Sam Stirrat commanding the back four, let down only by Nick Kapoor playing everyone onside. But before long came Harrow's long lost foe - fatigue. She’d been showing signs at the end of the first half and during the break she’d sent her dreaded cocktail of lactic acid and disappointment streaming into the calves and thighs of the 13 men.

Before long the Old Johnians had capitalised, and heads went down. Even the ever enthusiastic ca-cawing of Azhar Yaqub-Khan from the bench started to wither. Ned Callander fought strongly in the middle of the park until full time but nothing was to be gained. In traditional 3rd XI style, another goal was conceded in the final 5 minutes (something that is now becoming customary). Nevertheless, a spirited performance, and something to build on. And so we roll on, in search of that ever-elusive first point of the season!

See lineup and stats here.