The OHAFC 3rd XI waited two months to earn their first win of the season, putting five past the Old Johnians 2s last weekend, and on Saturday they repeated the trick just for good measure in an entertaining Division Four fixture on the Hill against the Old Shirburnians. Although the final 5-3 scoreline to the Blues looks comfortable enough, this game was in the balance for long spells, the hosts only really breaking stubborn resistance from their opponents in the final twenty minutes. Two early Adam Graham strikes earned the OHAFC a 2-0 lead at the break and the sides traded goals for the majority of the second half, but efforts from Rupert Stonehill, Freddie Everett and Alvin Adefarasin proved sufficient to earn the 3s a second consecutive win that lifts them to within two points of their opponents in the lower reaches of the table.

Having finally tasted success at the seventh time of asking last weekend, it was hardly surprising that demand for an outing was strong from the squad for another winnable fixture. Skipper Joss Awdry was afforded the luxury of naming a thirteen-man squad with plenty of attacking prowess and a solid midfield pairing of Matthew Ede and James Walduck. Charlie Dunn and Hugo Morrell-Roberts provided defensive reinforcements from the bench if required.

But with the visitors starting the game a man down due to a late arrival, defence was the last thing on Harrovian minds as referee Alan Barrett got proceedings underway under cloudy skies in northwest London. The Blues began quickly and took the lead within five minutes, Adam Graham supplying a neat near-post finish from an excellent Rupert Stonehill pass. Despite this, the Shirburnians had clearly come to play and pressed forwards even though they were now a goal and a player down. Indeed, such was the determination of the opposition to press high up the pitch and squeeze the play, the hosts soon worked out that early balls played over the top were likely to prove their most dangerous weapon. And so it proved, with the two wide men, Stonehill and Adefarasin especially enjoying the freedom they were permitted. Despite the eleventh Shirburnian player arriving with a quarter of an hour played, the Blues soon found themselves two goals to the good, Adam Graham doubling the lead, and his tally for the day, with a deft touch from a well-worked corner routine, Si Nicholson drawing players away from the danger area to allow the striker to pounce.

That was the way the scoreline remained until half-time, although the visitors continued to show enough in attack to suggest that this was far from a formality for the OHAFC. The home side coped well, restricting their opponents to a few pot-shots from long range a couple of corners, but Tom Mitchell looked solid in goal, commanding his box with certainty. Skipper Awdry decided against making any changes at this stage, with Dunn and Morrell-Roberts left chomping at the bit on the touchline.

The sense that the game was still far from won was brought into sharp focus ten minutes into the second half with early pressure from the visitors forcing their first goal of the morning. Clever interplay down the left wing saw the ball crossed into the box and although the first header at the near post was kept out, the ball ran free to the far post where the Shirburnians striker pounced to fire in. Now the outcome hung in the balance, the visitors looking the more dangerous side, the hosts somewhat hanging on. But with just over an hour played another ball over the top caught the Shirburnians napping and Rupert Stonehill took full advantage to beat the last couple of defenders before supplying a fine, low finish beyond the keeper.

Back came the Shirburnians. With the game now resembling something of a basketball match as play switched from end to end with regularity, the visitors once more reduced the deficit to a single goal, this time from a set-piece – the home side had shown an alarming propensity to concede chances from dead ball situations and they were undone from a free-kick that was curled into the box and headed in. In the process, keeper Tom Mitchell clattered one of the Shirburnians on the head and he was forced to leave the field with a nasty injury that would require medical attention.

Once more the Blues were nervous and hanging on…once more they scored the next goal, however, to dampen Shirburnian enthusiasm and this time the two-goal lead had an element of finality about it. Matthew Ede was the architect this time, latching onto a ball down the left and supplying a cross for Freddie Everett to score from. With twenty minutes remaining, the hosts finally relaxed somewhat, the earlier determination of their opponents gradually fading. And when Alvin Adefarasin scored a superb fifth, eight minutes later, slaloming his way through a couple of challenges down the right before slotting confidently past the keeper, the result was finally beyond any doubt.

The visitors still had the last word, scoring a third in the dying minutes, another header from a set-piece after Alex Kenderdine-Davies had been somewhat harshly penalised for a handball. But there was no doubt who was the happier team come the final whistle. This was a vital win for the OHAFC in their bid to recover from a winless six-game opening to the campaign. Joss Awdry’s side are now just two points behind both the Shirburnians and the Old King’s Scholars – whom they face next weekend back on the Hill. A third consecutive win and the Blues will climb out of the relegation zone for the first time this season.