14 man Old Street performance gives hope for the season ahead

In a moment of tactical and strategic genius, I - in my guise of match-day captain, got the team to arrive at the Marshes an hour earlier than absolutely necessary to encourage a bit of bonding amongst a relatively new squad. Some may say that my actions were a mistake, a consequence of not paying attention to kick-off times, and perhaps I should have been declared 'Dick of the Day'. To them I maintain, I knew exactly what I was doing!

Moving on, a bit of bartering with the 2nd team for players later, meant that the 3rds were able to have 15 names on the teamsheet. Unfortunately, Middlesex Merit Table regulations meant that our inability to field a front row led to a penalty of playing with 14 players rather than a full complement. The visitors took advantage of the overlap, though they were met with rather staunch opposition, whose brave defence meant that, in 40 minutes, Chiswick were only able to cross the whitewash 4 times. 4 tries where the extra man would have likely had a material effect on neutralising their chances. In fact, in the last 20 minutes of the 1st half, Old Street actually started to turn the screws themselves, with some sequences of pressure from multiple phases of play leading to Old Street debutant, David Leahy, scoring twice. His strong performance all through the match won him my nomination as 'Man of the Match', as well as Chiswick's (they gave a joint nomination to David and myself).

Finishing the first half at 4 tries to 2 meant that optimism was high in the Old Street ranks that we may be able to steal the result despite the deficit of a player, and the 2nd half started off where we'd left off from the 1st. Strong carries, committed tackling and just an abundance of spirit from the 14 meant that hope flew for the next 15 minutes, despite conceding a try. However, injuries (in both halves, but more crucially the 2nd) and a lack of subs meant that Street were soon down to 13 players against Chiswick's 15. It was at this point that they were able to start taking advantage of that overlap, ramping up their points tally to their eventual 44.

There was an unexpected ray of light in this period. Sporting the No. 9 jersey, Hugh Orton made an early claim to the try of the season trophy. Receiving the ball behind our 10m line, Hugh was able to dance and weave his way from the midst of the congested midfield to the left wing, where he pinned his ears back and raced 45m to dot down in the corner. This try gave us a bit of hope of taking something from the match, in the shape of a 4 try bonus point, but with the clock running out on us, we made do with the pride of facing up and holding our own against a side who had so much potential to humiliate us.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who turned out for the 3rd team on the day. There were many new faces amongst the valiant 14, and they played with the pride and spirit of seasoned Onians. I look forward to building a strong and competitive 3rd team with you all. In the words of Luigi - 'WHO ARE WE?'