Mens O45 vs Old Merchant Taylors O45

Match Report - 1 December 2024 - Oscar Tant

As the festive season begins, Harpenden welcomed Old Merchant Taylors (a fitting name considering the tie was in the over 45s cup) to the fortress. There was some early bad news for Harpenden as former club president Nashy was injured, so could only watch from the sidelines with the rest of the support, but thereon it was good news all the way.

The game started with an unfortunate incident for all watching. A powerful ball driven forwards was intercepted by an OMT midfielder, a loose touch resulted in the ball bouncing up and hitting where it hurts most. Luckily as the game was over 45s, any prospect of children had long gone. This was the turning point as shortly after, the gaffer FT in his intense prowess and strong enthusiasm for the game at 51 struck a hit so clean into the goal that you would have never noticed the deflection that guided the ball home. They all count. 

The flood gates had opened, and Nick McLean took advantage of the struggling opposition by adding to the lead. A fabulous ball from the baseline then split open the OMT defence and was powered home by Nigel Timms despite his best efforts to get his reverse strike to leave the pitch. Another opportunity arose, and a goal line scramble ended in the ball in the back of the net and Nigel flailing around on the floor claiming another goal. Flashing back to the warm up, Danny B was firing shots everywhere but the goal, making sure it was all out of his system before the game started. Unfortunately his system was as effective as Charlie K’s lungs and after a great bit of skill to beat two towering defenders, his shot narrowly missed. At some point in the first half, I can’t remember when, OMT fired back from a short corner and suddenly FT realised it was time to kick it up a gear in defence so decided the best move was to put himself at… RB? The real manger Kevin saw this and thought the best move was to put Nigel forward, and like a prime Jose Mourinho, this worked with Nigel bagging a first half Hat-trick with a stupendously fired hit. It was like he was playing in autopilot. Surely this individual performance couldn’t be topped?

After a strong and empowering team talk from the captain, the game resumed and Mark Hoefield had decided that the player of the match must not be Nigel. After having a few strikes go wide in the first half, he locked in. 38th minute goal. 42nd minute goal so despite the comfortable lead Harpenden now had, one particular member was getting nervous that the match ball was escaping his clutches. The goals were shared out further, Nick McLean came forward again, putting even more pressure on Nigel with a magic finish. After having a small break from scoring, back came Mark, collecting another 2 goals with amazing finishes, and stealing the wind from Nigel’s sails. We still loved your performance Nigel. To close off the goals, captain of the Men’s second team Jack Russell became bored of sitting back and watching the artists at work, so drove forward in similar fashion and swagger to the Jaguar he drives. He blitzed past multiple defenders and then had a tricky decision to make - find glory himself or tee up Veteran Irish Poacher QC with for a lovely open net. Whatever option he took, Niall ended up putting the ball in the goal and claiming another for his ever growing tally.

But the scoreline was only half the story. Stellar performances in defence by Nick Kimberly -who was pinging the most perfect passes left, right and centre resulting in me saying “He’s mint” on countless occasions, Fraser Tant, Dave Wright - you could never tell it was his first game in a while, Dave Munts - commander of the defence - and Jack Russell prevented OMT from closing down the lead and making it a nervy ending. Bob in goal had little to do but what he was presented with he made sure he kept out, and made sure that the defence knew that OMT’s second goal was their fault completely, and rightly so as the back post was left unmanned. The midfield was equally faultless, Russel Timms partnered with Danny B like bread and butter, feeding through balls with the vision of a hawk. True locksmiths at work. The frontline didn’t only provide goals but an impressive work rate, with Taza and Eddie not getting on the score sheet, but making sure that the defence never had a moment’s peace with their relentless press.

It was a great day all round, the rain had stopped before push back and the temperature mild. Even the referees were in a pleasant mood, VJ and Reesy didn’t pit a foot wrong besides the headset issue. A fantastic game for the supporters to watch, so thank you to Kelsey, Chris, Yas, Lilly, Nashy and of course myself. A final shout out for Kev who manned the subs perfectly, ensuring everybody had their fair share of game time.

Well played and onto the next one that I won’t be attending unless it’s at home.