Two goals inside the opening five minutes of the second half allowed the Old Tonbridgians to overcome a 1-0 deficit and leave Harrow Hill with a 2-1 victory, their second of the season over the OHAFC by that particular scoreline. A makeshift Harrow side battled hard throughout, taking an early lead against the run of play when Dan Firoozan was fouled by the visitor’s keeper inside the box and he duly converted the spot-kick. But despite holding onto their narrow lead against increasing pressure up to half-time, the Blues were undone by a corner and a well-struck shot early in the second half and failed to create enough chances to regain parity, consigning the side to their thirteenth League defeat of the season. Relegation will be confirmed if the side fail to beat the Old Wykehamists next time out.

This performance from the home side couldn’t really be faulted, with the absence of several regulars forcing skipper Fraser McGuinness to once more ring the changes. Centre-half Felix Tritton made his first 1s start at the back alongside Ed Beecham, with Charlie Lupton and Ollie Atkinson, who have appeared regularly for the 3s this season, both starting in midfield. Once again, the thankless task of the leading the line alone up front fell to Ciaran Jordan.

Fortunately, Friday’s storms and strong winds had dissipated by kick-off on the Harrow astroturf, with a bright day and moderate breeze accompanying the players throughout. Tonbridgians sat third in the Premier Division table at kick-off, but had, rather oddly, conceded eight the previous weekend away to the Old Alleynians, so there was cause for optimism from the home side.

And despite the visitors making a fast start on the Hill, it was the home side who opened the scoring very much against the run of play inside ten minutes. Dan Firoozan latched onto Ciaran Jordan’s flick-on into the box and was sent sprawling by a combination of the Tonbridge keeper and one of the centre-halves. The diminutive midfielder picked himself up and confidently slotted away the spot-kick, sending the keeper the wrong way. The lead was almost cancelled out immediately when the Tonbridgians saw a deflected shot canon back off the crossbar before it was scrambled away to safety.

The game then settled down for twenty minutes with both sides battling hard in midfield to try and gain the upper hand. Murray Barr showed some nice touches for the hosts, jinking away from his marker before spreading play wide, with Charlie Lupton also continuing to demonstrate that the step up from Division Four football to the Premier Division was well within his capabilities. The hosts struggled to create any clearcut openings, with several moves breaking down midway inside the Tonbridge half. But the visitors also struggled to create anything of note, a couple of long diagonal balls over the top failing to trouble the back four.

But the quarter of an hour prior to the break saw the Tonbridgians slowly begin to ramp up the pressure on the Harrow goal, as they dominated possession and, increasingly, territory. Several free-kicks and corners were forced, most of which were fairly comfortably dealt with. Ed Beecham was booked for taking out a flying winger right on the touchline and the perception grew that the half-time whistle would be firmly welcomed by those in blue. One final opportunity arose for the visitors, again from a set-piece, but McGuinness got his angles right and dived to his right to scoop the shot away, the rebound skewed back across goal but wide.

The skipper made a change at the break, removing Beecham and protecting him from a potential second yellow card. Ed Nicholson was the straight swap at the back. The side was encouraged to fight for everything in the remaining forty-five minutes, with a third win of the season very much on the cards.

But within five minutes that hope had taken a serious dent, as the visitors carried on from where they left off and scored twice in the blink of an eye to turn the game on its’ head. An early attack saw a long-range shot nick off a defender and whistle just over the top of the bar. The resulting corner was curled to beyond the far post, headed back across goal and turned in from close range by an unmarked Tonbridgian. The hosts had barely sorted themselves out from that setback when they conceded what turned out to be the winner, a combination of passes down the Tonbridge left working a bit of space outside the box and allowing a midfielder to drive a perfectly-placed shot low inside the near post.

The Blues laboured to get themselves back on level terms, the skipper reintroducing Beecham up front, d’Angelin the man to make way. When that failed to provide the necessary impetus, the Blues doubled down and sent Nicholson forwards, thereby creating one of the tallest strike partnerships in Arthurian League history.

Chances still proved elusive however, Firoozan coming closest to levelling when he collected a ball forwards from Nicholson, turned inside his man and curled a left-foot shot towards the top corner. Only a flying save from the keeper denied Harrow’s goalscorer a spectacular second. A spell of pressure late on then saw the ball rolled across the box to Charlie Lupton but he was on his unfancied left foot and agonisingly screwed his shot back across goal and wide of the target.

The visitors held on without undue alarm to register their second 2-1 win over the OHAFC this season, thereby almost certainly condemning the Blues to Division One football next season. Three games remain, but should the side fail to overcome the Old Wykehamists next weekend, their fate will be sealed.