The OHAFC 2nd XI ended their seven-game winless run in all competitions in some style on Saturday afternoon, hammering Division Three promotion hopefuls the Old Berkhamstedians 2s 6-1 at King’s House Sports Ground in Chiswick. The Blues came into this game with relegation fears growing following a sequence of five defeats and a solitary draw in the League since early November, but turned in comfortably their strongest performance of the season to thrash the team lying third in the table. Leading scorer Andres Hutchinson scored twice before half-time to put the visitors in control and although the hosts pulled a goal back, second half efforts from Geoff Taunton-Collins, Cyprian Owen Edmunds, Alexi Pittalis and skipper Miles Kellock ensured three priceless points for the OHAFC. The side climb to sixth in the table and likely need just one further win from their five remaining games to ensure they avoid the drop.

On a sunlit afternoon in southwest London, and with several stars of OHAFC past and present in attendance, including Fred and Jackie Woolley, Harry Hoffen and a courgette-less Bobby Tindall, the visitors made an encouraging start, pressing their opponents high up the pitch and creating a couple of half-chances – both Miles Kellock and Andy Hutchinson saw their first efforts of the afternoon saved by a Berkhamsteds keeper who seemed suspiciously like an outfield player filling in for the day. And within a quarter of an hour he was picking the ball out of his net for the first time as a poor pass out from the back by a defender landed straight at Kellock’s feet, he squared it for Hutchinson on the left and his finish from a tight angle on the left was confidently struck.

The OHAFC, playing in the white change strip, continued to dominate, but had to wait another twenty minutes before the lead was doubled. Tristan David had already swung in a couple of dangerous crosses in open play and when he then delivered an inswinging corner from the right, chaos ensued inside the box. Hutchinson’s first effort was blocked on the line, the ball rebounded to the far post where the keeper, under pressure from Giacomo Grasso, made a hash of the attempted clearance, hacking the ball back across goal and allowing Hutchinson a simple tap in from a yard out.

It would have been the perfect half of football from the visitors had it not been for a very simple goal conceded a minute before the break. A Berkhamsteds free-kick close to the halfway line was driven into the box and a retreating Alexi Pittalis was caught underneath the ball, the forward stealing in behind him to poke the ball past an otherwise untroubled Tom Mitchell in the Harrow goal. Having conceded far too many late goals this season, half-time emphasis focussed on maintaining the work rate and concentration right to the end of the match.

As it transpired, the first fifteen minutes of the second half had a far more decisive impact on the result than the last fifteen. Despite a strong start from the visitors, Berkhamsteds earned themselves a golden opportunity to level the scores from the spot when the left winger drew a risky challenge from Grasso inside the box. But Mitchell, having rarely been called upon in the first half, then produced his one decisive intervention of the day, guessing correctly and diving to his right to palm away a well-struck if rather straight effort from one of the strikers. Harrovian celebrations were effusive and within ten minutes the value of the save was compounded as the visitors restored their two-goal lead. Matt Ede won a free kick ten yards inside opposition territory, Kellock delivered beyond the far post and this time, from an almost identical spot on the pitch, Alexi Pittalis timed his jump to perfection, rising beyond the defender to head back across goal and just inside the far post.

The Blues now knew the game was theirs for the taking and they duly dominated the closing stages, making rather a mockery of the two teams’ respective League positions. Three further goals emphasised the gulf in class on the day: Geoff Taunton-Collins rose to head home a Hutchinson cross from the left, with some assistance from the keeper and crossbar, Kellock finished off a cross from his co-captain and Cyprian Owen Edmunds rounded things off five minutes from time, slotting home with ease past an increasingly flummoxed Berkhamsteds keeper.

It’s tempting to ask where this level of performance has been for most of the season, such was the energy and quality on display, but the OHAFC 2s can now look forwards to their final five matches with renewed confidence and still with an outside chance of a top-half finish in Division Three.