Continuing our look back at OHAFC fixtures played on the corresponding weekend over the previous six seasons, with only eight games to recall:

Six Seasons Ago: January 30th 2010

Lancing Old Boys 1 OHAFC 1st XI 1: A weakened 1st XI travelled to Kingston University to take on Lancing with goalkeeper Luke Raffety, captain Quentin Baker and midfielder David Lederman all unavailable. It was a vital fixture for the Harrow 1’s, with Charterhouse having overtaken them at the top of the table since they last played.

Ed Poulter, playing in an unfamiliar role in central midfield, scored a superb opening goal on the half hour, curling in from the edge of the box with his right foot. But Lancing equalised soon afterwards when stand-in goalkeeper Pritchard fumbled a low shot and the rebound was turned in from a narrow angle.

Old Haberdashers 4 OHAFC 2nd XI 6: Despite this game being played on an appalling pitch in Chiswick, the Harrow 2’s and Habs produced a ten-goal thriller with the visitors running out winners 6-4.

Bemini Soyinka scored twice in the opening quarter of an hour to put Harrow in the ascendency and Ed Arghebant added a penalty before the break. In the second half, substitute Olly Hadden-Paton scored Harrow’s fourth with twenty-five minutes remaining but the points were only secured late on when Mike Okoigun and then Amir Shah scored – Shah’s goal the best of the lot, an inch-perfect lob from the right.

Four Seasons Ago: January 28th 2012

OHAFC 1st XI 3 Lancing Old Boys 1: Following a 1-1 draw earlier in the season, Harrow and Lancing were expected to contest another tight game on a cold, grey day on the Hill. As it turned out, Harrow produced an excellent performance in a bad-tempered ninety minutes to run out 3-1 winners.

Ed Martins, playing at left-back, created the opening goal after twenty minutes, spraying a 50-yard ball to right winger Lederman in acres of space. The winger delivered a pinpoint cross into the box for Luke de Rougemont to head home from five yards out.

The hosts enjoyed a stroke of luck just before the break when a cross from the left looped over Luke Raffety and clipped the top of the Harrow crossbar. But the game turned for the worse minutes later when a scuffle broke out inside the Harrow box and referee Richard Wilson was forced to intervene.

Harrow doubled their lead shortly afterwards when Molloy headed in a Lederman corner at the near post. But the second half proved a much tougher proposition for the hosts, who struggled to play with the same fluency they had in the opening forty-five minutes.

The ill feeling between the teams continued with several ugly incidents and an unhealthy leniency from the referee. But Lancing found a way back into the game when they pulled a goal back ten minutes after the break, several failed clearances allowing a cross from the left to wind it’s way to the back post where it was comfortably headed in.

Thankfully, from Harrow’s point of view, substitute Freddie Brunt killed off any hopes of a comeback for the visitors when he fired home superbly on the half-volley from the edge of the box to restore the two-goal lead with twenty minutes remaining. Harrow held on to complete a fine victory, although tempers remained frayed right up to the final whistle.

OHAFC 2nd XI 2 Old Brentwoods 2’s 2: The Harrow second string fought out a hard-earned 2-2 draw against their Brentwood counterparts on the adjoining Phil pitch. Alex Breeden opened the scoring with ten minutes of the first half remaining but the Blues were indebted to Max Curry’s strike twenty minutes from time to earn a share of the spoils.

Four Seasons Ago: January 29th 2011

OHAFC 2nd XI 1 Lancing Old Boys 2’s 2: A narrow defeat for the Harrow 2’s against Lancing on the Hill, with an early Phil Berry goal proving insufficient to earn Arjun Chopra’s men a point.

Two Seasons Ago: February 1st 2014

OHAFC 1st XI 4 Old Chigwellians 0: The Harrow 1st XI climbed into mid-table safety with a fine performance and win over Chigwell on the Harrow School Astroturf.

Despite the absence of several key players, Harrow’s defensive discipline was excellent and they comfortably nullified any attacking threat from the visitors utilising a five-man midfield.

With the game evenly balanced in the opening period, the hosts were gifted the lead after a quarter of an hour when a careless back-pass to the ‘keeper was well intercepted by Charlie Stebbings and he slotted home at the near post.

A second defensive slip handed Harrow their second, the Chigwell goalie somehow allowing a powerful but straight shot to slip through his grasp. With a two-goal lead the hosts could relax and in the second half put the game beyond doubt with two further goals.

Fred Richardson scored the third with a superb solo effort, carrying the ball for twenty yards past two defenders before calmly slotting the ball in the far corner. And Alex Gilbert nabbed the fourth, again finishing with excellent composure following a fine team move. Harrow moved into fourth with the win, with leaders Charterhouse due up next.

Last Season: January 31st 2015

Lancing Old Boys 1 OHAFC 1st XI 0: A frustrating defeat for the 1st XI, who had managed to keep a strong Lancing team at arms length for eighty minutes before gifting their hosts the only goal of the game through a careless square pass across their own box.

Using a 4-5-1 formation, with Tass von Hirsch making an encouraging ddebut at right-back, the Blues snuffed out any threat in the first half, goalkeeper David Griffiths barely having a save to make. At the other end Bemini Soyinka stormed through on goal with a powerful run but couldn’t find a way past the ‘keeper and the score remained goalless at the break.

Lancing threw an extra body forward in the second half and for twenty minutes the plan worked, the Harrow back four creaking under the weight of pressure. But having survived with the clean sheet intact, despite several players struggling with cramp or injury, it was heart-breaking to see the performance ruined by an under-hit pass across his own box from the otherwise excellent Fred Milln.

The Lancing winger pounced, crossed to the back post and the ball was fired past Griffiths to seal the win.

Old Kings Wimbledon 2’s 2 OHAFC 2nd XI 1: A disappointing display from Jack Orr-Ewing’s men that dented their Division Three promotion hopes significantly.

In a game played in tough conditions in south west London – a bobbly pitch and strong wind not helping either side play good football – Harrow started the better and took the lead after a quarter of an hour, albeit through a piece of good fortune: Azhar khan’s strong run forwards was allowed to continue unchecked and when he crossed into the box a Wimbledon defender unwittingly headed past his own goalkeeper.

But slowly the hosts fought their way back into the encounter and grabbed an equaliser when their left winger charged down the touchline and delivered an enticing cross into the box. The visitors continued to struggle in the closing stages with the quality of their play having deteriorated noticeably from the first half.

They were made to pay when Kings scored a winner inside the final quarter of an hour, another cross into the box headed home by one of the smallest players on the pitch. Despite the defeat, another encouraging debut was made, with Giles Newton enjoying a strong first outing for the club.

On This Weekend…In the Wider Footballing World

January 30th 1999 was the day Glenn Hoddle was forced to resign as England manager following comments made in a newspaper interview regarding his religious beliefs.

Despite taking England to the 1998 World Cup in France, where they lost on penalties to Argentina in the game that saw David Beckham sent off for kicking out at Diego Simeone, there were some underlying problems with Hoddle’s management. He had brought out a book ‘My World Cup Story’ immediately after the tournament that suggested his mind had not always been fully focussed on the task at hand. He also brought into the England set-up faith healer Eileen Drewery, a figure who drew ridicule whenever she appeared. Not only did Hoddle suggest she was an important part of the backroom team, he also claimed after the World Cup that not taking her with the squad was his biggest regret.

After qualification for Euro 2000 began poorly, Hoddle’s stock was falling. So when he claimed in an interview with several major newspapers that he believed handicapped people were being made to pay for what they had done in a former life, the FA wasted little time in suggesting he should pay with his job. Five days after giving the interview Hoddle sat in front of those same journalists to announce his resignation.

January 31st in recent years has, of course, been the final day of the January transfer window and the accompanying, now legendary, scenes on Sky Sports News where brave reporters stand freezing outside training grounds surrounded by moronic fans, waiting for news of the arrival of Dynamo Tblisi's reserve left-back at two minutes to midnight.

Perhaps the most interesting pair of transfers on this day occurred in 2011 at Liverpool. Fernando Torres had split opinion on the terraces and inside the club. Some still believed he was capable of returning to his best. Others thought his career was on a continual downward trajectory. Chelsea had already had one bid rejected but the striker was keen for a fresh start and submitted a transfer request.

In the final few hours of deadline day the wheels were set in motion. To little fanfare, Liverpool announced the capture of Luis Suarez from Ajax. As midnight loomed, the club then announced they had sold Torres to Chelsea for an extraordinary £50 million. Even more remarkably, they then announced they had spent £35 million on his replacement: Andy Carroll of Newcastle United.

Jim White went into meltdown, the fans were gobsmacked and it seemed as though deadline day was the gift that kept on giving…that was until clubs realised that actually most of the players available in this month aren’t actually that good.

Will next Monday be any different I wonder?