OHAFC II 0 Old Berkhamstedians 4

The 2s suffered a serious blow to their hopes of promotion from a tight Div 3 on Saturday, losing out 4-0 to a decent Old Berkhamstead side.

Harrow made 4 changes to the side that started against Stowe the previous week, with Alex Elwell, Johan Harder and Alex Gilbert showing great commitment to the club playing away from their regular squads, and Owen Edmunds starting left mid having turned up on time this week. Theo Gordon provided back up from the bench.

Khan, Orr-Ewing, Elwell and Gordon were forced into playing back to back games, and had come through a competitive 90 mins on the astroturf as they felled Forest 4-3 in the early kick off. A late drop out from Galen Crawley due to “going to the country” caused some off-the-pitch controversy that may spell the end of his brief Old Harrovian career.

However, the starting line-up looked to possess the firepower to register a sizeable goal tally, and a high-scoring game was predicted. The Harrow defence was the first to crack, patched together with a tired Elwell and skipper Orr-Ewing’s damaged spine reducing the normally agile and lithe centre back to a rather stiff looking performance. Chopra, then Orr-Ewing, then Elwell all got decent connections on attempted clearances, but were unlucky with the ball rebounding into the path of a Berk, who finished to Khan’s right with the ‘keeper unable to stop the shot despite getting a hand on it.

And a few minutes later, the Harrow defence were again exposed, with Harder and Bone unable to give cover in front of the centre back pairing. The ball dropped to the aggie bald number 10, who banged it in from 25 yards and celebrated his 100th goal for his Club. Orr-Ewing made a change, bringing Woolley in from right midfield to sit alongside Harder and allow Bone to be a play-a-maker in his more comfortable trequarista role, with Curry moving out wide. This gave a better defensive platform, and gave Harrow the chance to play the better football for the remainder of the half. Owen Edmunds, Curry, Gilbert, Bone and Harder were able to combine down the flanks on a number of occasions, but failed to apply the finish. The most notable chances fell to Harder, who blazed over from 5 yards with the keeper beaten, and Jack Orr-Ewing, whose unchallenged header hit him in the face and bobbled harmlessly wide.

Jack Robinson and Azhar Khan then combined to gift Old Berks a decisive goal just before the break. Under a bouncing long ball, Jack elected to head back to Khan – the Berks striker anticipated better than the Harrow keeper and beat him to the underhit pass, rounding Khan and slotting home for 3-0.

Harrow were not out of the game, and knew that an early goal in the second half would put them back in it. Harrow had a number of chances as they dominated possession in the first 25 mins, Owen Edmunds hitting the post, Chopra firing wide, Curry crashing into the bar and Bone making some good yards with a number of successful dribbles through the middle. Theo Gordon had replaced Elwell at half time, and performed admirably despite complaining of a sore bottom and various short term pains in his legs. As the final whistle got closer, the chances of coming back into the game dwindled. Theo Gordon found himself 3 on 1 at the back on the 80 minute mark, and the cool finish from Berkhamstead effectively ended the game.

It was a disappointing day that needs some more analysis. 4-0 was an unflattering result, but Harrow deserved to lose, despite enjoying some periods of dominance. Mistakes at the back gave Berkhamstead the opportunity to score cheaply, and profligacy up front meant Harrow were not in a position to complain at the end of the game.

Next week sees the squad heading to Eton, for what is always a tasty match up. Losing 2-0 at the start of the season was a bad day for the OHAFC, and the 2s will be out to avenge for that loss and get their season back on track.