The OHAFC 1st XI, fresh from last week’s nerve-jangling win over Aldenham on the Hill, faced their second away trip of the season on Saturday with a short trip to Twickenham to face the Old Wykehamists – the first meeting between the sides since a one-sided Dunn Cup semi-final in March 2013 that saw the OHAFC dumped out of the competition 4-0 on their own pitch.

With Winchester School no longer willing to provide their old boys’ team with a pitch, the club have set up camp at a rather incongruous astroturf facility a few hundred metres down the A316 from Twickenham Stadium. Although the surface is decent enough, the pitch is somewhat narrow and with a strong wind blowing throughout Saturday conditions were once again far from ideal for football.

Harrow skipper Ed Poulter, as is becoming the norm given the side’s excellent run of form, had no trouble in selecting a strong squad for the fixture and named one of the strongest substitutes’ benches anyone could recall: 1st XI leading scorer Harry Hoffen, who has missed the last two games with a back injury, winger Alex Gilbert and the Club’s leading scorer this season, Alex Smith, who was making his senior 1st XI debut having played in the friendly against the School a fortnight previously.

Midfielder Nick Scarborough was also making his 1st XI debut and he was named in a five-man midfield alongside Poulter and Hill in the middle, with Lederman and Ogyen Verhagen, making his first appearance for the Club this season, the wide players. Giles Newton was named at right-back, the first time he had played that role and Gbemini Soyinka retained his place up front following last week’s match-winning effort against Aldenham.

A familiar face in Richard Wilson took charge for the fixture, having officiated more OHAFC games in the last seven years than anyone apart from Alan Greenberg. Having won the toss for the second week running, skipper Poulter chose to play with the wind in the first half but as the opening forty-five minutes wore on, it became evident that this would in fact be a hindrance to the side’s efforts rather than a help.

On the fast surface the Blues kept the ball well across the back four and in midfield and enjoyed long spells of possession but struggled to carve an opening against a well-organised, deep-lying Winchester defence. Time and again the visitors worked the ball into decent areas but either ran straight into traffic, failed to deliver a telling cross or tried to play a killer ball that inevitably would skip off the surface and into the ‘keeper’s arms or straight out for a goal kick.

Despite noticing that the Winchester stopper looked less than convincing in the warm-up and therefore, with the wind behind them, urging plenty of shots to be taken, the Blues had just two efforts all half, a left-footed curler from Lederman that sailed over and a better effort from Jack Hill, who combined well with Verhagen to force his way into the box, producing a low shot that was tipped wide by the ‘keeper.

At the other end the Harrow back four looked as solid as it has done all season, with Milln and Sert commanding in the middle and McGuiness in the Harrow goal a spectator for much of the half. In typical OHAFC fashion however, a single lapse in concentration cost the side dearly and against the run of play the hosts took the lead from almost nowhere. The ball was punted forwards hopefully from the halfway line but Milln was goalside of his man and looked to have the danger covered. Instead, the Winchester forward read the flight of the ball better and, as Milln dallied, stole in round the back to knock the ball towards the area and, as the defender tried to recover, prodded it past McGuiness at his near post.

Poulter made a swift change with Scarborough being withdrawn and Smith brought on up front, the visitors switching to a standard 4-4-2 formation. Again however, despite enjoying the bulk of possession, Harrow found it impossible to carve out chances, numerous balls being sent forwards hopefully and when they were played more accurately, Soyinka and Smith struggled to hold possession up effectively. Milln nearly atoned for his error when he somehow headed a Lederman free-kick wide with just the ‘keeper to beat, but despite the side’s best efforts the scoreline at the break remained 1-0 to the hosts.

At half-time a further change was made with Harry Hoffen replacing Soyinka up front, the Harrovians trying their third attacking formation of the match in a bid to get back on level terms.

And it didn’t take long to see that with the wind now in their faces, plenty of pressure could now be applied on the Winchester back four. Instead of balls over the top sailing out of play, they were now holding up in the wind allowing Hoffen and Hill to chase and Smith to bully the centre-halves as they tried to affect their clearances.

The equaliser came ten minutes into the half after some concerted attacking from the visitors. Smith was causing a nuisance of himself but the goal was a typical piece of finishing from Hoffen, who saw his first effort blocked by a defender before casually swinging his left foot at the rebound to send it flying into the far corner from fifteen yards out.

Both strikers could then have given Harrow the lead: Smith was played in by Lederman but his flicked finish rolled agonisingly wide of the far post, Hoffen was presented with a golden chance on the other side of the box but swung wildly at the ball when he had time to compose himself. There then followed one of the greatest OHAFC goalmouth scrambles ever seen, Jack Hill’s left-foot shot bouncing down off the crossbar, hitting the goalkeeper and bobbling around for what seemed an eternity a yard from goal before somehow being cleared. Smith had the best chance at scoring but with the ‘keeper lying on the ground he couldn’t get enough purchase on his header and, as his teammates prepared to celebrate, the ball still refused to find its way into the net.

Frustrations for both sides began to rise with the visitors unable to find the winner and the hosts losing players to injury at an alarming rate. They were barely able to field eleven fit players as time began to tick towards the final ten minutes and thankfully the visitors took advantage thanks to a trademark mazy dribble from Ogyen Verhagen. The ball was crossed from the left, Smith dummied and Verhagen skipped inside his full-back, drew the ‘keeper out, cut inside him and, as a second defender moved in, fired the ball into the top corner with his left foot. It was a fantastic goal and the culmination of an excellent spell of play from the youngster, who had begun to dominate his full-back and produce some dangerous balls into the box.

Having rarely threatened all half, it was to the hosts’ credit that they summoned up the energy to pin Harrow back for the final few minutes and force McGuiness into his only real saves of the afternoon. Several free-kicks and corners caused havoc in the Harrow box and Fraser produced one outstanding dive to his right to tip a bouncing ball from a cross-shot past his post. It was to be the closest Winchester came to scoring and the Blues played out the final few minutes well to secure a vital three points that sees them regain top spot in Division One following the draw between Brentwood and Repton.

It was another commanding display from the side, once again in tricky conditions, and highlighted the excellent spirit in the group to come back from a goal down at the break and force the win. The back four remain a solid group, with Newton putting in an excellent display at right-back, and the combination of Smith and Hoffen up front looks like it may bear fruit in games to come. The squad is now strong enough for several players to be missing on any weekend, a luxury for skipper Poulter.

The side now face Westminster in the Dunn Cup second round and the tie is likely to be an exciting one, pitting as it does the two clear leaders of Divisions One and Two: Westminster have not lost a game this season and are sure to provide a tall hurdle to overcome in reaching the last eight.