Old Tiffinian IIIs 2 – 2 Civil Service VIs

With summer behind us, another OTFC tour survived (Lyon briefly turned purple) and the BBQ safely packed away, it’s with great excitement that another football season starts.  This time in the newly formed Southern Amateur League, way down in division 12 (technically you’ve not been relegated if the league restructures, and we love a technicality at Old Tiffs).

As is tradition, the first game of the season sees everyone wanting a game and the squads full to the brim with bright eyed new players and weary veterans alike.  A quick Friday morning skim of the new league rules, followed by a couple of emails to make absolutely sure of the interpretation, threw up the incredible news that we could field five (5) substitutes this season.  It’s nice to know that if we ever have that many players we’d be allowed to name them all in the squad.

With the merging of two leagues, there are a lot of new teams for OTFC to face this season.  Having never played the Civil Service before it was hard to know what to expect, so the team talk instead focused mainly on Oli Lofthouse’s ridiculous red shorts.

TIffs started the game well, with a midfield made up of mostly Harry’s controlling the game well and reducing the Civil Service to only set pieces to create any chances.  Tiffs looked good up until the final third, where a little lack of confidence and early season rustiness stopped most attacks short of being truly threatening.  However, midway through the first half Tiffs were able to take the lead with a thumping header by debutant Mike Campbell from their first corner of the game.  The rest of the half saw few chances, despite some acrobatic attempts at goal rarely seen at Grists.

The half time team talk focused on Tiff’s good play and the belief that the best way to win the game is to go out and put it to bed by scoring another goal or two.  But, should the game be tight in the final few minutes, then timewaste like b******s to see the game out.

The second half saw the Civil Service start to make a few more chances, without ever truly threatening the Tiffs goal.  A strong penalty appeal for both sides was turned down (I thought both were pens, but was only upset that we didn’t get given ours) and then with 15-20 minutes to play Tiffs were able to add a second goal.  Some good closing down from the front three saw Civil Service make a mistake and Alex Belemet pounced to turn the ball home and give Tiffs a real chance at an opening day win.

Sadly, a flurry of set pieces proved too much for Tiffs to deal with and a half cleared, half scuffed, deflected and then finally smashed home goal gave the Civil Service the momentum going into the final 10 minutes of the game.  Even more sadly, they were able to force home an equaliser with only a few minutes to play when Tiffs failed to clear their lines from a corner and a second cross into the box was headed home.

A late equaliser can often feel like a defeat, but Tiffs stayed positive after the game, as a good performance and point on the board is a promising way to start the season.  All we need is for Oli to find his white shorts and to tighten up from set pieces and hopefully, we’ll have a decent season.

POTM: Amr Haji