Following our aborted trip to Saffron Walden last week, the 4s welcomed Chelmsford to the Bridge for the late game, two points clear of both their opponents and Havering at the top of the table. With Havering falling to a resurgent Thurrock side earlier in the day, this game gave both teams the chance to end the day leading the division.

As has been usual this season, the Old Boys started slowly and Chelmsford had the better of the early play and we were indebted to a sensational double save by Rich from a short corner to keep us level going into the second quarter. We weren’t out of the woods, though, and when Chelmsford found some space down their left, I inadvertently deflected the cross up and over Rich and into the goal. We did start to make some headway after that but went into half-time that goal down. 0-1.

Steve reminded us at the break that we’d been in this position many times this season and that we were still well in the game, so we started the second half much more positively. A couple of minutes in, and the Adam and Andy combination worked once again. With our umpire playing a long advantage after a foul on Adam in the D, Andy pounced on the loose ball to level the game. 1-1.

Both sides continued pressing in search of the lead and an unfortunate mistake in our back line let Chelmsford through and Rich’s heroics couldn’t prevent us falling behind again. 1-2

Knowing a draw would keep our advantage in the league, we pressed again. Determined to level the score, Adam ran for the baseline and attempted to lift the ball into goal. A desperate lunge by a defender only managed to hook back Adam’s stick. Undeterred, Adam put the ball in the net but this was after a whistle had halted play and the umpire awarded the penalty stroke. Andy stepped up, and calmly put the ball low to the keeper’s left to get us back on level terms. The last ten minutes saw both sides create chances which were kept out by combinations of defenders, goal keepers and blind luck at times, before the whistle blew on a 2-2 draw.

Rich and Clarky shared this week’s player of the match, while Webby and I shared the jacket of shame for not being young enough to miss lunch and still be able to play a match without collapsing.