OHAFC III 2 Old Brentwoods III 1

Conditions could not have been better when Brentwood visited the Hill last Saturday. The Phil, immaculate as ever, seemed unaffected by the recent hurricane Joaquin.

Harrow won the opening exchanges in midfield showing much more desire and fitness to win any 50/50’s. Possession was neat and tidy between defence and midfield with Harrow being patient on the ball with Brentwood at best chasing shadows. Tom Faber did a brilliant job dictating play, dropping in as a third centre back at times to link defence and attack.

First chance came to the home side with captain Fogarty cantering up the line and slipping in Fred Parry down the left hand channel, who skipped past the already tired and frustrated fullback only to draw his shot just wide.

Instead of capitalising on this Harrow fell asleep. One too many touches in midfield resulted in Brentwood playing through there striker who had been previously feeding on scraps. The much-surprised forward finished past the outstretched McHardy.

Completely against the run of play Harrow were behind and were lucky not to be punished further after a long throw caused all sorts of problems in the box. The ball took some wicked deflections after the ball was headed towards goal, McHardy forced into saving brilliantly with his feet.

This was a definite wake up call for Harrow, with Fogarty shuffling his pack and throwing on “Life on Marbs” star Adam Graham. Graham the target man added height but mainly weight for the midfield to play into. The reality star threw himself about with usual aplomb, winning a corner in the process. Benjy Sewell clipped in two mouth-watering corners which both resulted in goalmouth scrambles, Kapoor on both occasions causing havoc with his bull dog like approach. Harrow were unlucky to be 0-1 at half time.

At the break Harrow knew if they were patient and kept up the style of play they would eventually break the tiring Brentwood. The patience paid off mid-way through the half. Impressive club debutant, Jake Rogers, won the ball up in the Brentwood half and laid off to 3’s starlet Beeley, 25 yards out and with still a lot to do he laced the ball in to the top right passed the helpless ‘keeper. Another for the Beeley show reel.

Harrow were rarely threatened in the second half apart from a few mazey runs from an agile left footed Brentwood player, the home team often doubling up to quash any sort of break away as Harrow mainly camped in the oppositions half.

Eventually the lead was taken not long after Beeley’s screamer, centre back Thorn made a marauding run cutting through the Brentwood midfield like a hot knife through butter and released Walker down the right who fizzed in a low cross across the face of the goal, Feather popping up to tap in at the back post. A much deserved lead taken by Harrow.

Frustration grew and grew amongst the Brentwood ranks, resulting in the already booked right back to receive his second yellow card of the day for a 2 minute expletive rant on where a throw in should have been taken.

With ten minutes to go the sting had been taken out of the game and Harrow wound the game down in what seemed like a training routine of keep ball, Sert orchestrating well from the back, making sure Brentwood did not have a sniff.

Overall Harrow showed great composure and character in the game, not panicking when the goals weren’t flowing. Man of the Match went to Nick Kapoor for his great defensive display, the striker-turned-right back has really shown his commitment with some ferocious tackling.

The 'Thanks for Coming Award' goes to Luke Faber who drove the whole way to Harrow, got into his kit, sat on the sideline and refused to come on. Thanks Luke.

To view team lineup and stats, go here.