Fresh from their long trip to Essex last weekend where they secured a creditable draw away to the Old Brentwoods 2nd XI, the OHAFC 3s headed east once more on Saturday to the environs of Canary Wharf for what looked, on paper at least, another tough assignment away to the Old Alleynians 2s. The two sides have already met in the League this season, the Blues running out 6-1 winners on the Hill back in September, but Alleynians also earned a draw with Brentwoods 2s just a fortnight ago so there was no room for complacency among the 13-man squad that travelled across London.

Conditions were perfect at the Bacon Community Sports Ground in Rotherhithe with a warm autumnal sun and no hint of a breeze. The squad was a strong one with the starting XI all having played at least a couple of games for the 3s this season, whilst on the bench Nicolas Blinoff was ready for his second career appearance and Max Morgan was making his first OHAFC appearance for nigh on five years.

The first half was, as expected, a tight affair on the wide astroturf pitch, with hosts Alleynians on top for most of it. Indeed, for long spells the visitors struggled to get out of their own half and they were forced to rely on sporadic counter attacks as their sole attacking outlet. Fortunately, from one such attack the Blues opened the scoring ten minutes before the break: Harry Bick was unceremoniously hacked down on the left, the defender being shown a yellow card by referee Alan Smithie, and Callum Barrett whipped the ball in for Luke Berry to head perfectly past the keeper.

Skipper Nick Kapoor allowed guest star Obi Ilogu, brother of goalkeeper Chuka, to give the half-time team talk and the instructions seemed to bear fruit as the second half began with the visitors in the ascendency. Chances were still at a premium for both sides, but on the hour-mark Harrow doubled their lead courtesy of some route-one football. Harry Turner, making his first appearance of the season for the club, pumped the ball over the top of the Alleynians’ back four and Harry Bick took full advantage of some momentary hesitation from the two centre-halves to steal in and knock the ball past the stranded keeper. The celebrations, much to the amusement of those watching, were in Harry’s usual understated manner…

Dulwich poured men forwards in a forlorn bid to claw their way back into the game but this only left them further open to counter-attacks and with a quarter of an hour remaining the result was put beyond doubt when Harrow scored an excellent third. Fine build-up play saw the ball fed up to Alex Smith, he held it up superbly before releasing Bick again through the middle and the speedster made no mistake, rounding the keeper before sliding the ball in just before the last defender could close in and clear.

With the result beyond doubt, the Blues relaxed in the closing stages and, somewhat annoyingly, conceded in the last few minutes, Alleynians breaking upfield from a Harrow corner allowing their left winger a clear run on goal, the ball finished nicely over a badly exposed Chuka Ilogu.

Despite the late concession, it was an excellent result for the side, especially given the first-half struggle that saw the visitors penned in for long spells. The win lifts the team back to the summit of Division Four following Stowe’s surprise 3-1 defeat at Brentwoods. Somewhat remarkably, there remain four unbeaten teams in the division, but the OHAFC have already played two of the other three and with their next two League fixtures against the current bottom two of Eastbournians and Haberdashers, there is plenty of scope for optimism going forwards.

*Thanks to Harry Bick & Chuka Ilogu for their help with this report

*Photos courtesy of Obi Ilogu*