Old Brentwoods II 4 OHAFC II 0

A car crash in more ways than one, the away trip to Brentwood proved to be an unhappy afternoon for the 2nd XI. The squad were merrily on their way to deepest darkest Essex early on Saturday morning for an achingly early KO of 11am when calamity ensued for their skipper. Twenty minutes away from the ground a collision occurred between his small polo and a rather large Mercedes van. Taunton-Collins and his shaken passenger (and VC) Khan, having dusted themselves off after examining the hefty damage to their vehicle (the VW has since been deemed ‘written off’), and following a lengthy conversation with the local constabulary, raced towards the ground in a taxi just in time for the end of the first half.

Events on the pitch in the meantime had not gone much better. Harrow were 2-0 down by the time the reinforcements arrived having played manfully with 10 men. By half-time this became 3 just as their new arrivals were settling into proceedings.

The second half was a more even affair with Brentwood scoring another following good work down their left, and Harrow missing a penalty kick after a foul on promising debutant Jack Alhadeff in the box.

It was an afternoon Harrow will be keen to forget, not merely because of the disasters on and off the pitch, but also because of the rather short thrift given to Curry and Pitallis’ pleas for a delayed start by a Brentwood side insistent on kicking off at 11am on the dot. To top it all England conspired to clutch defeat from the jaws of victory that evening in the rugby. All involved are very much looking forward to this weekend, where things cannot help but go much much better!

See lineup and stats here.