South Bank CUACO VIs 4 -7 Old Tiffinians IIIs

With another week of rain, enthusiasm for football had clearly been dampened and Old Tiffinians scrambled around to find a team.  Apparently, a long trip to Dulwich was not as appealing as the skipper was hoping.

Eventually a squad was assembled, with a little help from a club stalwart, and Tiffs were again confident of picking up their first win of 2026.  Skipper COnrad Bell was slightly less confident when 15 minutes before kick off he still only had 6 players at the ground, but the late arrivals casually strolled into sight and his mild panic was averted. A quick chat about how small the pitch was, and if there was a minimum allowed (sorry Dicky, but you can find the rules here) and a last minute change of formation for Oli Lofthouse to get his shinpads from the car was all that we had time for before kick off was upon us.

Sometimes at lower levels of football you can overthink things and South Bank clearly did this in the opening 20 minutes.  Deciding to change to a back three, perhaps buoyed by their proclaimed arrogance of thinking a 5-1 away victory earlier in the season would be easily repeated, they found themselves overrun from the off.  Tiffs midfield was calm and controlled and their marauding fullbacks George Sullivan and Conrad Bell (marauding? Are you sure?) had acres of space, pinning South Bank deep into their own half.

It was only a matter of time before Tiffs opened the scoring.  It should have been Jiwon Kim, but he spurned a simple chance on the rebound, so it fell to Harry Littlejohn to smash in from the edge of the box just minutes later.  Tiffs continued to turn the screw, with Harry Morris adding a fine second from long range and George Sullivan a third with what could generously be described as a miss hit cross.  South Bank were in disarray, and fell back on their favourite tactic of trying to wind the opposition up.  A late goal from a set piece gave South Bank hope, but going into the half time break 3-1 up Tiffs were in control.

Expecting South Bank to come out of the blocks quickly, it was actually Tiffs who started strongest.  After being told to remove his necklace, Oli Lofthouse was freed up to dance through the South Bank defence and extend Tiffs lead to 4-1.  A recurring problem of mistakes at the back allowed South Bank to get back in touch at 4-2 but Tiffs simply raised their game once more and put the game to bed.

Another goal from Oli Lofthouse, smashing in from very close range made it 5-1, before a quick counter attack allowed Dyaln Brillante to add a 6th and a fine touch on the edge of the box and neat finish allowed Jiwon Kim to make up for his earlier miss and make it 7-1.

It should have been game over from there, but giddy from the prospect of winning the game Tiffs took their eye off the ball and some poorly timed flicks and tricks allowed South Bank a glimmer of hope.  Two late goals briefly suggested a resurgence, but there wasn’t enough time.

All that was left was for South Bank to not want to give the ball back after it was kicked out for an injury, and then refuse the traditional “three cheers” after the game because it was “public school boy wank”.  One final missed attempt from South Bank as Tiffs is actually a selective Grammar.