The OHAFC 2nd XI didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the full-time whistle following a somewhat bizarre 2-2 draw away to the KCS Wimbledon Old Boys 2nd XI on Saturday afternoon. Playing into a strong wind in the first half in Wandsworth, the Blues battled gamely but conceded twice thanks to a couple of defensive howlers from their two most experienced players. Yet within ninety seconds of the second half, the sides were level as two balls into the KCS box caused pandemonium, allowing Cyprian Owen-Edmunds and then Alexi Pittalis to strike. With the wind behind them and a whole half of football remaining, the inability to go on and claim the win left the side ultimately frustrated. The league position suffers too as a result, with the Blues back down into seventh in the table, albeit well clear of the three sides below them.

With the weather forecast suggesting Saturday afternoon would see winds over 20mph, it was hardly the ideal time for the 2s to play their first fixture on astroturf this season. Indeed, the gap since their last appearance on an artificial surface was eighteen games – an entire League season – an unusually long interval given the number of clubs that play on the plastic in the Arthurian League.

The forecast winds duly blew leaving skipper Geoff Taunton-Collins with an interesting conundrum at the toss: play with the elements in the first half in the hope of earning a lead to hang onto, or go against the conditions early on, relying on the wind and tiring opponents to recover after the break. As it turned out, perhaps fortunately given the contrasting advice he had received from several of his charges, the decision was taken out of his hands, KCS winning the toss and electing to play with the breeze. Despite the absence of the Woolleys, whose aversion to watching football on an artificial pitch proved one of the more amusing talking points prior to kick-off, there was a decent crowd on the side, with former OHAC 1st XI stars Paul Molloy, Charlie Tweddle and Nick Defty in attendance, each with a child in tow – how quickly time moves on!

And, as predicted, the opening spell proved fiendishly tricky for the visitors to negotiate, with KCS pinning the Blues inside their own half for long spells. Charlie Walsh, deputising in goal for the absent Kyri Pittalis, was relatively well protected, although he was forced to make one spectacular flying save to his left, one of Wimbledon’s pacey forwards cutting inside before curling a shot towards the far corner. Indeed, the strength of the breeze blowing in south west London was amply illustrated by Wimbledon’s first corner, which sailed yards behind the Harrow goal, rather embarrassingly for the taker.

Going forwards, Harrow struggled to maintain possession for any length of time, a combination of the wind, the bouncy surface and sheer size of the pitch all leaving players with a measly selection of options when on the ball. And referee David Laughton, officiating his first ever OHAFC fixture, played his part too, with numerous stoppages for fouls and offside decisions, not always met with unanimous approval.

Despite this, the visitors got to the halfway stage with their clean sheet intact, no small achievement given the pressure exerted upon them. But all the hard work up to that point was undone by a couple of horrendous defensive errors barely five minutes apart, and from Harrow’s two most experienced players, that gifted Wimbledon a two-goal lead.

A ball into the Harrow box should have been comfortably cleared but Woolley, under little pressure, took a complete air shot at the ball allowing the striker to steal in behind and beat Walsh from close range. If that was unfortunate, what happened soon after was unforgiveable. A Wimbledon corner from their left was delivered into the box and a bout of pinball eventually saw a shot scuffed towards the far post. Lederman was on the spot to clear but, for some unfathomable reason, decided the ball was going to roll wide of the post and so opened his legs to let it pass unhindered. Such was the lack of pace on the strike, the veteran had enough time to turn and watch in horror as the ball rolled into the net, fully half a yard inside the far post. The silence that followed suggested no-one quite knew what to say, or if they did, they didn’t dare test his reaction...

Still, the Blues battled on and, to their credit, grew stronger as the half wore on. Steadily play was shifted up the pitch, with the pace of Taunton-Collins down the right and Andres Hutchinson up front providing several warnings to the KCS defence that the game was far from over. A set-piece offered the clearest chance of a way back, Lederman’s corner met with a thumping header from Tom Ward that unluckily hit the underside of the bar before being cleared.

As well as disrupting the flow of play, the artificial surface was also taking its toll on the physical well-being of the players, with Ollie Curry forced off with a recurrence of his knee injury after only half an hour. Fortunately, with the full complement of three substitutes to call on, Taunton-Collins was not short of options.

At half-time Woolley was replaced by Jack Orr-Ewing and the skipper encouraged the side to keep believing and, most importantly, not to become impatient should a goal not arrive in the first fifteen minutes. As it turned out, that particular piece of advice wasn’t required.

Within two minutes of the game restarting, the sides were on level terms, Wimbledon faces now looking as shell-shocked as Harrow’s had following their five-minute self-inflicted implosion. From the kick-off a Wimbledon ball forwards was met with a firm defensive header from Ed Massey that launched Harrow onto the attack. Alexi Pittalis flicked the ball over the top and Cyprian Owen-Edmunds ran on to finish precisely with his weaker right foot.

Wimbledon kicked off once more and within thirty seconds they conceded a free-kick inside the centre-circle. Lederman delivered the ball into the box and there then followed a prolonged bout of head tennis that ended with Alexi Pittalis heading home from barely a yard out. Neither side could believe what had happened and it was, at that stage, from a Harrovian viewpoint, easy to assume that the goals would continue to flow.

But the game settled down fairly quickly into a far more even contest, Wimbledon able to keep hold of the ball slightly better than the visitors did in the first half, although still unable to really test Walsh in the Harrow goal – both Massey and Hovey produced solid displays at full-back, as did Monroe when he returned to the action late on, the skipper deciding he had had enough ploughing a lone furrow up front alone by that stage.

But the closing quarter of an hour saw the Blues once more pressing for the win, Andres Hutchinson at times taking on the entire Wimbledon defence on his own and very nearly beating them, one run ending with a powerful strike straight into the keeper’s midriff.

Neither side could truly by happy come the final whistle: KCS need wins not draws in their battle to avoid the drop and they will know they were gifted their two goals in the first half; from Harrow’s viewpoint, to come from two goals down and earn a draw would normally be a cause for celebration in a Division Two fixture, but the nature of the goals conceded and the fact they could not find a way through having gained parity so early in the second half will be a cause for regret for some time to come.

The Blues now travel to Merchant Taylors, another side struggling near the foot of the table, for what promises to be a tricky fixture on another less than pristine surface. Disappointingly, Tom Ward will be unavailable for the remainder of the season as he is moving to Oslo for work – a huge loss to the side, Tom has been one of the most consistent performers this season.

*Photos courtesy of Paul Molloy