A great weekend for OB sport with over 60 OBs returning to the School to take part in Fives, Football, Rowing, Shooting and Squash. As always, the fixtures were fun, with both OBs and boys showing a great level of sportsmanship.
The OBs saw some strong opposition in the Fives, Squash and Rowing matches but came out victorious. It was a draw in the two football fixtures but the School held the day in the Shooting. This bodes well for these sports in the next few years when the current pupils join the ranks of the OBs!
Many thanks to all the OBs who raised teams and to the Masters in Charge for getting the boys teams together. Do have a look at the photos taken over the course of the weekend.
Football Report
Recent poor weather turned into a beautiful spring morning. The OBs provided two teams against a school 1st and 2nd XI… despite the challenges of Mother’s Day commitments.
The OB A team had a mix of youth and experience, fielding a number of players from recent leavers. An open game from kick off resulted in both keepers saving well keeping their goal intact. The deadlock was broken on 30 minutes when Novo Ukiri (15-20) showing great initiative when the school team thought the referee had blown the whistle, scored from an acute angle.
Man of the match Will Barrett (07-17) extended the lead just before half time.
The school displayed great confidence on the ball keeping good possession, however Will Barrett completed his hat trick with a well taken goal from distance and a bullet header. The final score was 4-0.
It was a keenly contested and good-natured 9-a-side 2nd XI game, with the OBs swapping in and out of goal on their side. The OB’s went 1-0 up, thanks to an OG forced by the persistence of the OBs, and were looking to hold out until half time, but a soft goal meant a 1-1 scoreline at half time. Fatigue began to creep in, and an early goal from the boys meant the OBs were chasing the game, and the boys scored again to make it 3-1. The OB’s didn’t give up though and a ‘well-timed’ run to beat an offside trap, saw Doug Worboys (98-09) score to make the final score 3-2.
Squash Report
The OBs returned to the School squash courts this year in what seems to be a revitalised outfit full of enthusiasm and hunger to thrash the ball around court. The OB team was a mixed bag with some players getting on court regularly each month, and some that hadn’t touched a racket in several years! This led to a shaky start for the OB team with the School taking an early lead in the format laid out for the day whereby all games played would be tallied up with the victors winning the most games across the afternoon. Pressure was on for the OB team where it was clear some of the OBs were most definitely dusting off some cobwebs and needed to find their feet on court before they could turn things around against the spritely, young School team.
As the more regular squash playing OBs identified that something needed to be done about this, in particular one of the School players on a 4-win streak, this was quickly squashed, no pun intended, to even things out and ramped up the competition. Both teams were neck and neck all throughout the afternoon with victories and losses coming on both sides in some very entertaining and competitive matches up until the final match of the day. Little was it known by the OB and his School opponent playing the final match that this game would determine the overall final result, until Mr Montgomery leaned over the balcony to let the School player know that he needs to win the match to tie the overall team score 30-30. No pressure on the young lad and quite a fitting end for him as it was his final year at the School playing at String 1 throughout the season. One slight issue is that when he was given this pivotal information he was already looking at a 4-12 deficit in the game. To give him a chance of a mighty comeback it was decided the game would be played to 21 points, but sadly for him and fortunately for the OBs the game ended 21-10 in favour of the OB, leading to an overall 31-29 win for the OB team. We all then retired to the dining halls for a well-earned beer and tea.
A great afternoon and well done all to all OBs involved this year, it was a great turnout with some really good matches played. Thanks to Will and Tom and the boys for hosting us once again and we look forward to next year as always.
Sam Morris (96-05) – OB Team Captain
Fives Photos Rowing Photos Shooting Photos