Old Tiffinians IIIs 5 – 2 Old Blues IIIs

And so the OTFC IIIs 2025/26 finally draws to a close. Skipper Conrad Bell decided to continue with his tried and tested team selection technique of having 5 players available on Thursday night and then desperately begging his way to a starting 11. Clearly his powers of persuasion have improved dramatically over the season and come Saturday afternoon he had to turn players away.  Never has the term ‘Old’ Tiffinians felt more fitting, as the Tiffs 15 man squad was filled with experience and no fewer than 11 players over 40.

A starting 11 was picked based mainly on vibes with promises of roll on, roll off subs to keep legs ‘fresh’.  The pre match team talk focused mainly on where everyone normally played, and how that wouldn’t fit our system, and then on how genuinely important the game was to our season.  Win this and we send Old Blues down, and give ourselves a real chance of staying up in their place.

Suitably fired up, Tiffs went out there and started slowly.  Old Blues clearly hadn’t read the script and were the better team in the opening 15 minutes making a few half chances and dominating the ball.  Their persistence soon paid off.  A cross from the right found Old Blues with space in the box and they took the lead at the second attempt after the first shot was blocked.  Tiffs continued to struggle in possession but were gifted a way back into the game when the Old Blues keeper threw the ball straight to Cruz on the edge of the box, who happily fired the home side level. Despite the gift, Tiffs continued to struggle and so it was no surprise to find themselves behind again. Old Blues scored the same bloody goal as the first time, but from the left and not the right.

Trailing at half time skipper Bell toyed with the idea of giving everyone a bollocking before settling on, in hindsight, a deeply inspiring team talk; something that simply can’t be conveyed in a match report. Set to their task, hearts swelling and ears ringing with the words from their skipper, Tiffs went out and dominated the second half.

Quickly the Tiffs were level. An improvised flick on, off the back of Paul Banoub, was itself flicked on and Joe Matthews swiveled and volleyed past a stranded keeper. Sensing that momentum had shifted, Tiffs continued pressing and won a quick succession of corners. Failing to clear their lines properly a second cross came in and Cruz rose to fire home his second goal of the game and put Tiffs into the lead for the first time.

After that, Tiffs never looked back. They controlled possession and continued to make some good chances, and it was only a matter of time before they stretched their lead. Old Blues were exposed by measured through balls all day and finally Tiffs capitalised. Rushing on to a ball, Banoub was forced a little wide and lobbed the ball over the keeper and Old Blues defender allowing Jiwon Kim to fire home from a yard out and surely seal the 3 points.

There was still time for Old Blues to miss a glorious chance to make it 4-3, but there was little fight left in them.  Tiffs skipper lead the team to victory with some infuriating time wasting and the stealing of dozens of yards from every throw in. With the game meandering to a close, Tiffs ended on a high and a Joe Matthews shot was spilled by the keeper allowing Banoub to score a well deserved 5th goal.

With that, Tiffs ended their season with back to back wins (for the second season running, actually) and gave themselves a great chance at survival.  They just have to wait a full bloody month for Civil Service to finish their season and find out if they’ve done enough.

POTM: Efran Cruz

Season Stats

Players Used: 68 (sixty eight)

Single appearances: 27 (twenty seven)

Double digit appearances: 9 (nine)