OC 3rd XI v Old Bromleian 3rd XI (h)

LOB Junior Cup: Round 1

Result: 5-0



It must have been the heat. Because the Old Carthusian 3rd XI were on fire on Saturday. Drawn in the first round of the LOB against a team who won a league and cup double last season, the 3s laughed in the face of the form book. And then shat on it. From the moment Richard "Traction Engine" Rudden slammed in the first from the edge of the box we never looked back. Moving the ball around like we were protecting a freshly hatched egg, we delivered it to Rich once more to smash egg all over the keeper's face with a second goal that was impossibly even better than his first. Netbuster. A goal so good, Ben Moss saw fit to celebrate by putting his finger in Angus Procter's mouth. That's how we roll.

The second goal really quietened the opposition rabble and we soon had a third. In what has become something of a trademark, a sliced left-foot cross from Kibbey was never going anywhere else but the top corner. 3-0 and not even 30 minutes on the clock. But there's more. Another sweeping move from the 3s down the left, and a cutback on a plate for Rich with a side garnish of hattrick salad. 4-0 half-time and the opposition were crying for their mothers as they wilted in the 30 degree Northbrookian sun.

The second half was more of the same. With some more composed finishing we would have put at least 4 more past them. As it happened we just grabbed one more through Al Fenton who smashed in a cross from the right. But, pleasingly, we continued to control the entire match. The OPTA possession stats would surely have read somewhere up around 70-80% in our favour and we continued to use the ball excellently throughout. Other oppositions may not allow us to play this kind of great possession football for such long periods, but we have seen on Saturday how devastating we can be when we keep the ball so this must be the standard for the season. If we can use the ball just half as well as we did on Saturday we will be a very difficult side to beat this season.

Where do you start with an assessment of performances? In short, everyone was excellent - a genuine team performance. Special mentions must go to Tom in goal and the back four though who set the tone for keeping the ball - they all had the confidence to play it short and this gave us a great platform to move forward with. Ben Moss was immense in the middle of the park, showing great fitness on a day when most faded towards the end, and Frenchy showed a great battling defensive side to his game as well as his usual flair going forward. On another day Al would have had a hat-trick (the video may bear witness to a Fenton vs Kibbey miss of the season competition) but Man Of The Match this week must, of course, go to the architect of what is surely one of the most belting first-half hattricks Northbrook has ever seen. Great goals at great times. Rich now knows what he has to do - score a hattrick every game or he's dropped.