The OHAFC Vets exited the Plate competition at the quarter-final stage yesterday, losing 3-1 to Repton at the Bank of England Ground.

Skipper John Wyn-Evans was left scrambling around for bodies, not for the first time this season, with a number of players absent or injured. A squad of twelve was cobbled together eventually, albeit including a less-than-100% Paul Molloy and a rather ill David Lederman.

The hosts played well in the first half and should have scored several times before they did finally take the lead, Lederman poking the ball through for Dom Danos to run onto and comfortably round the 'keeper before slotting in.

Harrow looked to be in control but the kick-off to the second half saw the visitors quickest player suddenly storm through the hosts' defence and help set up an immediate equaliser.

Two further goals followed in the next ten minutes, the second of which was thanks to an unfortunate deflection which took the ball over Bobby Tindall's head and into the far corner.

Despite dominating the final twenty minutes the OHAFC could not find a way back into the game, with every shot, of which there were plenty, somehow finding the ample midriff of the visiting 'keeper.

It was a frustrating end to the Vets' season and a game that should have been won, even allowing for the multiple absences. However, in the bar afterwards it was noted that defeat did at least spare a return trip to face the Old Westminsters in the semi-finals and their notorious Boston Manor 'ground' - a patch of derelict wasteland alongside the M4 motorway where Rupert Hoffen amusingly claimed he couldn't stay to play extra-time because he was lunching with his mother-in-law.

Vets XI: Tindall, Morley-Fletcher, Baddeley, Warner, Hoffen R, Ingram, Butler, Lederman, Molloy, Wyn-Evans(c), Tim, Danos