The OHAFC Veterans XI produced a magnificent fight-back on Sunday morning, coming from 3-1 down with less than half an hour remaining to defeat Charterhouse 4-3 in the driving rain in Godalming and progress to the semi-finals of the Derrick Moore Veterans Cup and a meeting with Forest in late March.

With a number of first-choice players injured or absent, skipper John Wyn-Evans was forced into transfer deadline day mode for most of the week, making numerous calls to ensure a bare minimum of eleven could make the journey. In actuality, thanks to some late u-turns, a squad of thirteen travelled.

Bobby Tindall began the match in goal, nervous that he could suffer some kind of reaction at any moment thanks to there being no alcohol in his system for the first time in a while.

Charlie Tweddle started at left-back having spent the majority of the week trying to locate his boots, his last game being estimated as the same year the internet was invented.

Warner and Baddeley formed a lithe, pacey, slightly tanned centre-half pairing, with Butler redressing the balance at right-back, turning up overweight, slow and rather pasty-looking following a 'late supper with friends' the night before.

In midfield, Bourke and Wyn-Evans were tasked with doing the donkey work, trying not to make asses of themselves in the process, with the two wide men Lederman and Thorn offering somewhat different interpretations of wing play.

Up front, Dom Danos was recovering from jet lag having returned from New York the day before, but the prospect of having to spend ninety minutes listening to Ru Hoffen's pearls of wisdom suggested he was at grave risk of being put to sleep at any moment.

On the bench, which was actually very wet mud, no actual wooden structure being provided, Mike Morley-Fletcher and Jon Ingram encouraged, cajoled and urged onwards. The game then kicked off whereupon they stood miserably in silence in the driving rain, weeping inside that their lives had come to this and vowing next time to take up their wives' generous offer of peeling the vegetables for Sunday lunch.

The referee had obviously foreseen the biblical conditions the game was to take place in and officiated throughout, excellently it must be said, wearing a black beanie hat, giving him a mildly mad, threatening look. Harrow kicked off with a strong wind behind them, although accusing glances in Tindall's direction went unanswered.

In the early stages both sides struggled to come to terms with the conditions: Harrow failed to produce any flowing football of note, whilst the home side began energetically but with little end product, a couple of corners and long range shots the sum total of their efforts.

Midway through the half the visitors defence began to creak: Tindall saved one effort well, diving to his left to turn the ball past his near post, but was then powerless when a Charterhouse midfielder was allowed to skip through two tackles on the touchline and feed a ball into the unmarked striker fifteen yards out, who turned and finished calmly.

Wyn-Evans rotated the substitutes at a dizzying pace but with little effect, try as they might the Harrow side could not force the Charterhouse 'keeper into action. Warner strode forward and fired wide from long-range, Bourke several times ran past a couple of players only to be halted short of the box and Hoffen and Danos searched in vain for even a quarter-chance.

With five minutes to go to half-time the visitors earnt a corner and Lederman, who had barely featured in the match, trotted over to take it. 'Put it straight in on goal' ordered his skipper and, for once, the winger did as he was told, firing the ball into the troposphere before watching the wind carry it back in a perfect arc over everyone, onto the far post and into the near side of the goal.

The effect was significant, with Wyn-Evans hosting a much more interesting team-talk than usual. Bobby Tindall, fearing the bombardment he may be subjected to in the second half, claimed the alcohol withdrawal symptoms he had warned about were now kicking in and would anyone mind if he sat out the second half. No-one minded at all. In fact, there was loud encouragement from several members of the squad. Andy Butler took over between the sticks, the bright lime green 'keeper's jersey now making him look like one of the frogs in Paul McCartney's 'We all stand together' video.

Skipper Wyn-Evans, who clearly now saw himself as some sort of set-piece kingpin guru, then warned against the perils of conceding any corners and to avoid such an outcome at all costs.

In one of the most predictable passages of play in the history of OHAFC football, the visitors then conceded three corners within five minutes of the match restarting, two needlessly, one of which produced a goal.

A long-range shot was travelling several yards wide of goal but despite at least eight cries of 'leave it!' Butler flung himself at the ball, akin to a sealion desperate to claim it's first sardine of the afternoon, and fumbled the ball out of play. The ball was swung into the six yard box and headed home with minimal effort.

No more than ten minutes later and Harrow's problems doubled, a careless pass in midfield left numbers short at the back but to the credit of the useful Charterhouse striker his finish was emphatic, drilling the ball into the top corner from twenty yards out.

Heads dropped and as the rain continued to lash down, the result looked a foregone conclusion.

With time, and Charlie Tweddle's hamstring, running out, Wyn-Evans then made the decisive switch of the match, withdrawing an ineffectual Ru Hoffen to right-back and sending Jon Ingram up front.

As legs tired on the increasingly heavy pitch and spaces began to appear, suddenly the visitors clicked into gear. Hopes of a comeback were stirred with twenty minutes remaining when Hoffen fed Lederman in space on the right and his low, first-time cross was expertly turned in by the sliding Danos.

Belief coarsed through Harrow veins and they quickly began to dominate a tiring Charterhouse side. Ingram held the ball up to good effect, Hoffen produced a number of telling balls down the line (one of which struck Lederman firmly in his own balls) and Bourke, Wyn-Evans and Thorn took control of midfield.

A rejuvenated Hoffen came within inches of scoring the equaliser when a speculative, long-range punt...sorry, precise left-footed strike from twenty-five yards out crashed against the crossbar.

But with just under ten minutes of the ninety remaining there was to be no denying Mark Baddeley, who rose superbly at the back post to thump home a header from a Lederman corner and the send the visitors into raptures.

Following the goal there was a brief lull in the match with neither side sure of the attitude to adopt. Harrow were on top but fearful that one mistake could deny them the extra thirty minutes their hard work deserved, the home side shell-shocked by the sudden downturn in their fortunes.

But the five minutes of injury time once more saw both sides going forward desperate to avoid having to spend another thirty minutes trudging around a sopping field in the driving rain.

With a minute to go a long ball forward found Ingram and Lederman in space on the right, the striker unselfishly sending the wide man through on the edge of the box and after taking one touch to steady himself, Lederman looked up before delicately chipping the ball over the stand-in Charterhouse 'keeper and into the back of the net.

The visitors saw out the final minute without any fuss and returned to the changing rooms smiling at the daylight robbery they had just gotten away with.

Once in the sanctity of the Peter May Pavilion, news was mixed. As expected, England had lost the cricket from an unloseable position and Ru Hoffen's mother-in-law had left a message saying that she was anxious to begin plating up the prawn cocktail starter she had diligently prepared the night before.

Less expected was the lack of any hot water, meaning a choice of a freezing cold shower or no shower, and the choice of Hoffen's attire for his upcoming luncheon: a pair of navy blue, shiny, tight polyester shorts that looked like they had belonged to Stuart Pearce in the early 1980's.

The semi-final sees Harrow travel to Forest School in late March with the kind offer of a post-match luncheon and hot showers at the captain's luxurious nearby abode - Wyn-Evans was unable to confirm however that he would be producing a special Powerpoint presentation on the dangers of conceding throw-ins to a team containing a bloke with a very long throw on him.

Anyway, hopefully by then Rupert will have found his trousers.