OHRFC 29 - 31 Old Johnians
A first defeat at Dean Road since 2021 dented our promotion hopes as Johnians staged a superb comeback to deny us a winning start to the new year, and in our new kit. Alex McMillan, Jamie Lashley, Ben Regan and myself all crossed in the first half hour to open up a seemingly unassailable 24-0 against a ragged and disjointed opposition. But in a bizarre incident on the half-time whistle, Johnians persuaded the referee to reverse his decision to end the first period as he had forgotten a penalty advantage he had awarded them, and they duly scored to cut the gap. Pip Bird’s magnificent finish shortly after the break looked to have the contest sewn up, but Johnians hit back with two well-worked tries to set up a tense final quarter.
Having the referee on side in the second-half, as they had in our previous encounter, Johnians cut the gap to one score, and once again put together an excellent set of phases to snatch the lead, repeating our first-half feat of 24 unanswered points. It left them with a two point lead heading into the last ten minutes, and though we battled to the finish we ended up on the losing side. We remain in the hunt for promotion, and two consecutive home games follow on 25th January and 1st February. Please come along if you can, and check out our newly-updated website which will have this report on it tomorrow.