St John’s losing streak came to an end on a bitterly cold afternoon against Harefield Ex-servicemen. They competed as a team from goalie to centre-forward and but for poor finishing would have been comfortable winners. Instead a 1-0 win courtesy of a well taken goal by Nick Tilbury secured a much needed 3 points.

This match will not be remembered for its flowing football but for the strangest substitution in St Johns history. Player Manager Odusanya who has been struggling with knee ligament damage decided to bring himself on for the last 5 mins “to mix it up” and ended up limping off after 2 mins of action leaving Johns down to 10 men and under the cosh.

St Johns were boosted by the return of the Engine that is Mark Blackburn after his trips to Bratislava and South Africa. Sab returned from rehab in Italy on his liver and his commanding presence gave Johns the confidence at the back after conceding 10 league goals in the last two fixtures.

4-5-1 was the chosen formation but a no show from Mikey Dermott forced Odusanya to shuffle his hand. He opted for a big man up front who could “offer something different” and hold the play up. Huggins was the first choice but Tilbury, who initially was given the Akin vote of confidence on the bench, was told to take his tracksuit off and Huggs went onto the right wing a la Djibril Cisse.

The game commenced with Johns going ‘up the hill’ and neither team got into the flow of things. Johns started to knock the ball about and Harefield were hitting channels and stretching the Johns back 4. Tony Gear and Andy bell contained the forwards well and only looked in danger when a long-ball was knocked over the top.

St Johns began to find some continuity and a long clearance by Gear seemed to have the same effect that Moses had on the Red Sea…..the defence parted and allowed a determind Tilbury to run on and expertly lob the goalie form the edge of the area.1-0.

A few minutes later a flowing move started by Blackburn resulted in Hegarty skinning his full-back and pulling the ball back for Werbinski, performing well in the Bergkamp role, on the edge of the box. He heard the shout form the on-rushing Blackburn and dummied his marker superbly. Blackburn swung a left foot at the ball but his shot from 18 yards whistled a yard wide of the post with the keeper beaten ends up. Pirie-Lewis began to dominate in midfield and battled for every loose ball and Werbinski linked the midfield and attack and also tackled back when required to.

Johns had the opposition rattled and another counter-attack allowed Pirie-Lewis to slip in Tilbury who rounded the keeper but couldn’t wrap his left foot round the ball when presented with a tight angle. The ball hit the side-netting and Johns went in deservedly leading 1-0.

During half-time Paul Huggins made the mistake of mentioning a minor injury to ‘The Special One’. He has been at St Johns to realise that means you get subbed after 5 mins of the second half. True to form he was whipped off and replaced by Jon Flint and Pirie-Lewis was shuffled out to the right wing. Tony Gear continued to marshal the defence with numerous tackles, clearances and towering headers and would later receive the MoM award.

The game descended into a war of attrition with neither side doing much damage to each other. Harefield brought on a lively centre-forward and the imperious Gear and dependable Bell coped well with. Johns were reduced to a couple of long range free-kicks from Hegarty and Blackburn neither of which worked the goalie.

Harefield continued to hit the channels well and the lively centre-forward found himself in the inside-right position rampaging towards goal. Captain Bell gave chase and clattered the striker to the floor with a reckless challenge which looked just inside the area. The referee saw the infringement on the edge of the area and Johns breathed a sigh of relief.

Both team s began to tire and with 5 mins left Odusanya limped onto the pitch in the place of Tilbury and Pirie-Lewis was replaced by Goalkeeper Scott Barton ! Both subs went up front in a 4-4-2 formation despite Johns battling to hold onto their lead. Moments later a toe-punt from Odusanya found Barton clean through and he slotted it past the goalie but was ruled offside. Seconds later a recurrence of a knee ligament injury forced Odusanya off but luckily there was not time left and St Johns had their second league win under their belts.

Match report by: Mark Blackburn