1903 - the Wright brothers' defy gravity; 1954 - Roger Bannister runs a four minute mile; 1961 - Uri Gagarin enters space; 1969 - Neil Armstrong lands on the moon; 1990 - the World Wide Web is launched. humanity has been waiting for another date in its diary to share with generations of the future and on Saturday 13th April 2013 at 16:45 hrs the OC 3rd XI provided perhaps the most important of them all when they became the first Arthurian League football team to win the Junior London Old Boys Cup.
A cup which has eluded past greats of the OC game - notable individuals include Dolman, Jackson (J), Jackson (M), Elles-Hill and French, now sits proudly in the 3rd XIs ever growing trophy cabinet. Time and time again great sides, pieced together by masterminds of the game, have toiled in the fiercest of battle conditions to call themselves victors, alas never fruitful. This is now amended; bruised from years gone by, scarred from the feeling of injustice, the 3rd XI animal was hungrier than ever on Saturday - and for once they prevailed in the London Old Boys. The agony of years gone by has been alleviated, pain has become pure joy.
The conditions may have been enough for believers in pathetic fallacy to pack up and head to the comfort of the Lighthouse. The rain drove down and the wind howled, even the bullets unleashed by Cobden-Ramsey seemed to be effected. Not the OC 3s though. The early exchanges from the men in pink, maroon and navy had the unmistakable stamp of class. Tackles were relentlessly won, the ball was nurtured like a fine tuned Kibbey lid and the channels were exploited with such ruthlessness you would have been forgiven for feeling just slightly sorry for their full backs.
Just ten minutes into the game came the first breakthrough. Cobden-Ramsey, fed the ball by the self-confessed Rolls-Royce of centre backs, Carnegie-Brown, made a mockery of not one, not two but three players before feeding the ball between goalkeeper and centre back. Manches, fuelled on what he called his 'best buy to-date from M&S' - a prawn, noddle, coriander and mango chilli wrap, timed his run to absolute perfection sliding in superbly from close range. 1-0.
Parkfield were riled, however the Charterhouse boys smelt blood. When Manches received the ball on the top right corner of the penalty area he swivelled before provided a signature finish into the bottom left. 2-0 and just 15 minutes had passed on the referees watch.
Why stop there then? As Parton and Moss (B), industrious as ever, fought for every 50-50 in the middle the ball broke for Manches again, he played in Nash, who had caused all sorts of issues for Parkfield with his pace, he rounded the keeper to pass into an open net. Parkfield did find time to grab a scrappy goal from an incoming corner but it was the mighty 3s who entered into the relative comfort of their changing room with a 3-1 lead at the interval.
It is a mark of a great side when they can change their game in order to deal with the problems posed by an opposition. This is exactly what happened for the next quarter of the game. Parkfield increased their levels of aggression to a scale unseen so far this season. Poor tackles and increased levels of abuse would have left many sides questioning how much they wanted to carry on in their pursuit. This OC side pushed harder and stood firmer though, they wouldn't crumble, they wanted that cup!
With just fifteen minutes left on the clock the first major mistake of the game occurred and Parkfield's fate was sealed. A Cobden throw was misjudged by the opposition keeper, who once he had tipped it over his own head could only watch in horror as it nestled in the goal bag. 4-1, cue some flaring of tempers.
As the OCs refused to give a yard to their opposition nasty tackle after nasty tackle came their way. Three yellow cards and a red later - all for Parkfield, Kibbey skinned his marker to feed Perera who gratefully accepted the task of slipping the ball under the encroaching keeper. Rout complete. Name on the trophy.
Just the final whistle was left to be blow, the trophy collected and a few celebratory drinks to be sunk. the JLC final awaits this weekend, could lightning strike twice in two years in Teddington?
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