Olney v Peterborough 16th March 2024.

With the weather getting warmer and evenings drawing out, Doff’s was looking good as we welcomed Peterborough for the return fixture having lost narrowly to them earlier in the season. On a busy day for the club with two teams at home and today’s game sponsored by our friends from the Olney Town Cricket Club, the cerevisaphiles meandered away from the bar and assembled on the touchline to voice their support as ever. The news from the Harris household this week is that Mr Harris called the police to arrest Mrs Harris. No crime had been committed, he just wanted them to come and remind her that she has the right to remain silent.

Despite there being no scores, the first ten minutes were lively and fast paced with both sides showing attacking intent. Hooker Tommy Herman showed his full repertoire which even included a fine touch kick! First points on the board came when an excellent move down the left found Arthur Betteridge who made a lot of ground before finding support from James Brock and then Ethan Chambers who was following up to receive the final pass and score close to the posts. Converted by young Mike Chapman. Boro’ were next on the scoresheet with a well worked move along the left flank resulting in a try wide out. Shortly after they made the most of a penalty advantage to work the ball to the wing and again score in the left corner to take the lead 10-7. With both sides making the odd mistake, there were no further scores in the half but surely more were to follow as the potential was always there. This reporter spent time with some elderly folk on the touchline and listened to many words of wisdom, particularly from legendary fly half Steve Howson. So much so that we should introduce a feature called “Steve Says!”

The second half began with Olney attacking well in the ‘Boro 22 but they held out well to keep the home side at bay. ‘Boro found it difficult to get out from here though and a quick penalty by Chambers gave Gareth Cahill the opportunity to barge over from close range. Despite ‘Boro looking dangerous in attack, it was Olney who added to their total next following a good spell and a scrum 5m from the line. Chambers again looking sharp when he picked from the base and sniped in for the try under the posts. Olney were now looking as if they had the upper hand and could have scored more but a couple of handling errors meant the score remained the same. Towards the end of the game though, some good ball retention and patience through the phases created room on the right flank for Mac Kitchener to score in the corner in front of the supporters gathered at the hut to give Olney the bonus point for the afternoon. This took the final score to 26-10 and a job well done with both sides contributing to an entertaining game.

This is just what we needed going into the final stages of the league campaign and should cement our place in the top half of a league consisting of some good sides and challenging fixtures. The future looks bright with some young and new players coming into the squad and showing their worth. Apparently the evening was spent drinking pints and dancing (?) to music with our chairman showing his considerable prowess on the dance floor!

It seems to have been a busy week for Mr and Mrs Harris. They had been in bed listening to the dog in the garden next door barking for hours. Mrs Harris jumped out of bed and rushed outside in a fit of anger. When she finally came back to bed Mr Harris said “What have you been up to? That dog is still barking”. To which she replied “I put the dog in our garden, let’s see how much they like it!”

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