With a makeshift team the idea of the 2s taking three points at home against Winchester seemed like an insurmountable task. Captain Jack and his brother Will had a family event they couldn’t miss. Harry Woolley and leading scorer Max Curry had been called up to the 1s. Ben Kerry, Nick Bartlett and Kamil Amin were all injured. Indeed, the only 2s regulars were Pritchard, Chopra, Maydon, Cater, Beresford and Stead.

Usual Vice-Captain Stead, having been side-lined through a brutal injury for the last few weeks, made his return and had the Captain’s armband for the first time, Chopra stepping in as his deputy.

The game started late due to the ref being at Winter Wonderland for too long but when it eventually got underway Harrow started much the stronger team. It was ten minutes before Winchester managed to get a half-decent touch on the ball. The deserved goal duly came on 14 minutes in a such a familiar fashion there was an air of inevitability about where the assist was coming from. Captain Stead headed in the long, Delap-esque, throw from Cater to the back of the net and more should have been added almost immediately but it didn’t pan out that way. Debutant Matt Main went down with ten minutes of the half remaining, a nasty bout of cramp was his undoing. In his place Azhar Khan came in to the fold and saw out the first half with the score remaining an uncomfortable 1-0.

After a rousing talk in the half-time huddle the team started the second half in much the same way as the first. By far the stronger team and a second goal seemed just around the corner. When Beresford played a delightful ball through for Stead and the terrible Winchester defender made a hash of it the time had surely come. Alas, the striker was caught in two minds as to whether to chip the keeper or put his foot through it and as such hit an incredibly tame shot straight in the arms of the stopper.

Luckily the second goal came soon enough to save the captain’s blushes and again the assist came from Cater, this time a corner. The scorer, Main, had only recently come back on having recovered from cramp, to replace Ed Page who hurt his ankle. The visitor’s defence cleared the initial danger but only as far as Matt Main, who for a moment became Adnan Januzaj as he hooked the ball over the keeper from 18 yards. 2-0.

Moments later, man of the match Cater, already with two assists to his name, went clean through on goal having started his run on the half way line. The clumsy centre half who had been found wanting on more than one occasion during the afternoon then committed a professional foul on the Harrow left midfielder just inside the box. As the last man he clearly should have seen red but for some unorthodox referring. Harrow were happy to have the penalty so didn’t force the issue and it seemed only fair Cater should be the one to be the one to take the spot kick. He duly stepped up and slotted into the bottom right corner, sending the keeper the wrong way.

With only 15 minutes remaining Pritchard looked set to keep his first clean sheet since the West Acre yearlings team in 1998 but some sloppy passing, cramping legs and inefficient tackling let Winchester back in the game twice within 10 minutes. Having been such a strong defence for the first 80 minutes Chopra, Bajwa, Maydon and Gordon were let down by some of the front six not seeing the game off. It meant the last five minutes were incredibly nervy, particularly given the nature of last week’s events where the 2s had been 2-0 up with ten minutes to go only to end up sharing the points. This week, however, they managed to close out the game and claim the most unlikely of 3 points. The hastily put together team had produced a display not many would consider total football but the sign of champions is a team who can grind out results even not playing at their best. At the end of the season nobody will care how the points were secured. The important thing is Winchester were sent home with nothing. Job done.