The Wykehamist
Brown crowds stood on edge, intermittently roaring, then silent, as the lead bounced back and forth: a goal from Frederick Laarman was quickly met by a goal off the heel for James Kennedy’ s eleventh point of the game; Piers Fletcher responded to a towering defensive plant from Rory McGregor( H, 21-) with a huge flyer, lacing it over two Commoners as it skidded out of ropes.
A controversial— though correct— score adjustment from 31 – 25 Commoners to 28 – 28 drew incensed cries for VAR from the sidelines. Anger was clearly rising on the pitch, too. Two massive tackles, one by James Kennedy on Ned Reeve( B, 22-), and another moments later by Arthur James Duff( D, 21-) on Frederick Laarman sent Felix Edmonson( Coll:, 20-25) into apoplexy on the sidelines. Despite a sharp goal from Michael Jin, Commoners’ persistence for consecutive behinds, and a decisive poke-through-the-legs finish from Alex Parkinson( K, 21-) nudged the Reds into a 35 – 31 lead.
Seb Kingsbury did all he could to drag Brown back from the brink. A monstrous sixpost flyer was ruled out, and a soaring catch on worms, busted clear under pressure, drew an audible exhale from both sides. But the Red hot machine had found its rhythm, adding two crucial behinds in the 64 th and 70 th minutes to steady their advantage. In fitting symmetry to Kennedy’ s pre-half goal, the game closed on an OTH strike at the whistle, with Frederick Laarman launching a thunderous flyer to seal a 38 – 35 finish for Commoners.
An ecstatic Commoners crowd, to the dismay of the supervising dons, crushed past the barriers to cheer on their fellow Reds as they hoisted the long-lost Pearl Pot trophy. After OTH’ s three-peat, Commoners’ moment had finally arrived. Indeed, the results level the tally across the 21 games played in MR’ s tenure: 10 for Commoners, 10 for OTH, and one draw. Next year promises to be a fateful one.
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