OC 3rd XI v Bradfield (h)

Result 2-2

Saturday's performance proves what I said before the match: we are the best team in this league, the team that everyone else is scared of, and we must now make sure we learn from the result, bounce back and win the whole damn thing.

The first half was as good a match as we've ever been in: very high tempo, two good teams playing one and two-touch football, passing it about, finding space and counter-attacking with real intensity and skill. The first twenty minutes we definitely looked the more dangerous side though, Wilko's volley into the top corner following a corner our just desserts. During this period the Jackson brothers, Mosser and Dolly were playing particularly well, pulling strings, full of energy and really standing up to be counted against very wily, tricky players. Bradfield's patient passing style started to gel the closer we got to half-time but excellent positioning, close marking, careful blocks and some excellent last ditch tackling from Wilko and Ben R-S maintained our lead at the break.

It was very encouraging to see how we out-muscled and outfought the young Bradfield team. I can't remember Dolly being beaten to a header or losing a tackle all day, and with Ben and Wilko very dominant at the back, on another day the game could have been out of sight with the visitors feeling well beaten by half time.

We started the second half as we started the first: snapping into tackles, running hard for each other, and hitting our passes early. Mark Jackson's back post volley from another corner driving us to a 2-0 lead. Then the most disastrous substitution of all time: I withdrew our best player OF ALL TIME and brought George on... No wonder it all went wrong.

No, not quite. George had a fine game, and carried the fight well to a spirited Bradfield response. They are a good side with the ball, and I think we became complacent and stopped doing the simple things: we dawdled on the ball, stopped hitting the first pass that was on, and in giving them the ball back so quickly so often we encouraged them to drive forward.

Yellow boots's thunderous twenty five yarder put us on the backfoot and the equaliser became an inevitability as we failed to retain possession and their younger legs ran our backline into the ground. With twenty minutes to go it is fair to say that a few of us lost some discipline, started to dive in, and as a result we lost shape and control.

Having said that, we still carved them open several times, James Moss and Frenchy carving out very good chances to win it. At the final whistle, it felt like a defeat, and they cheered as though they had won.

Lessons to learn: we must keep the ball when we're winning. Dribbling up the pitch with the ball is not the answer, we just need to hit the simple pass to the player who's in space. Spain don't sit back when they're winning, they just keep the ball. We have to do this well against the better teams. Also, I'd say that next time we play Bradfield, we should all hit the gym a lot that week beforehand. They had bags more energy in the second half.

Anyways, plenty to be proud about, especially the first hour of the game when we were really rather superb. Ben Ryder-Smith is this week's MOTM for a very assured commanding performance at the back.