OC Football Updates including 1XI promotion!

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Ed Sibley was a stand in goalkeeper for the Old Chigs last weekend (Easter weekend) which went a long way in denying the Old Kimboltonians promotion to the premier league. (OCs scoring a last minute header to beat Old Brentwoods 2-1 to secure promotion themselves !!) . 

What a season its been in Div 1 with a whole host of clubs a couple of wins away from going up ; but congratulations to the Essex Boys, Brentwoods and Chigs .

Saturday 26 April saw three Arthurian Cups; The DWT and the JLC and the big one is The Arthur Dunn Cup being played 122 years after Charterhouse and Salopians shared the Cup in 1903!!

The DWT features two clubs who have had interesting seasons . Old Oundelians have laboured in Division 5 and its fair to say, have not always been at their best as their record played 15 won 1 drawn 1 lost 15 tends to display . However, hold on, Chris Titcomb and Freddie Ashworth have pulled out all the stops in assembling their cup team this year.  Their 2-1win v Brentwood 4’s after extra time in the quarters and the 5-3 win on penalties after a 1-1 draw both v higher league opponents are a real credit to the boys from Northamptonshire!!! 

They face newcomers and as of yet only cup invitees and not fully fledged league participants Old Worthians in the final. Their 4-1 win in the semis v Shireburnians and a similar scoreline v Old Canfordians in the quarters highlight their pedigree . In fact Oliver Rivers played for the rep team v ISFA this year and scored the winner so they are a force 

to be reckoned with!!! 

The JLC has a history of close encounters, last years memory of a penalty shootout win after a 3-3 draw for Kimboltonians v Aldenhamians is still firmly etched. Is it really a year ago!!!. In Aldenahmains can count themselves very unlucky. In their Semi final v Old Alleynians 2’s , it was the Dulwich Goalkeeper that was given man of the match which tells a story and a match winning goal directly from a corner with the last kick of the game sent Old Alleynians through. The result sets up a great club day for Old Alleynians joining their senior team on Finals day!! 

Facing them was the resurgent Old Chigs 2nd XI who seem to have benefitted to a drop down to div 3 and its helped recruitment. Their win 2-0 win v Old Albanians in the semi final and reaching the final of the Old Boys novets Cup final a reward for the rejuvenation, could they go one better this time?

Classic stories of watching cup finals at weddings spring to mind as Old Chigs do live stream their matches via VEO, a few of the congregation may have their phones on silent but distracted, don't let the wives see !!!

Onto the “BIG ONE” and what a classic it already is without a ball being kicked!!! From an observers point of view this may have been one of the best ever of Dunn years. The second round had all the matches played on the same day which gave the opportunity of a live scoring updates on all matches.Great fun for all involved and whilst no knock out blows for the underdogs (we had already seen Lancing OB’s beat Premier Division Old Johnians , and Aldenham knock out Chigwell in the first round ) there were some classic matches , Old Kimboltonians 1-0 up with 10 mins to go hit the bar went onto lose 3-2 in normal time with Alleynians scoring with the last kick ( they make a habit of this ). Tonbridgians squeezing past Aldenhamians 2-1 too. The quarter finals kept up the excitement . Tonbridgians could be forgiven for thinking it could be their year as they ran into a 3-0 lead after 10 mins !!! Not so , never right off these boys from Dulwich as Sam Fetherston won it in injury time 4-3 !! Bradfield won well knocking out holders Repton and Old Foresters turn the premier division upside down by beating record Dunn winners Old Carthusians 4-1 !! Even the Semi finals kept up the action, the 3-2 win of Foresters v Old Etonians was a classic and Bradfield couldn't quite turn it on v Old Alleynians who i think I'm right in saying have never played in a Arthur Dunn Cup Final. So what a year and all we need to know is whose name will go on the coveted cake of a cup !! Old Alleynians , fulfilling a dream for those who have been at the club from the beginning, Ben Precious and our much loved Josh Lawrence. With their twos going for an elusive and rarely achieved “double “ it promises much with not a dry eye in the house. 

However don't rule out Billy Jenkins and the Old Foresters in what has been one of the toughest seasons for them. Motivated to spoil the party and show everyone they have what it takes ….. some story if they did !!!! 

The officials invited to run the proceedings have been carefully selected by our ever busy Referee Secretary Kacper, congtraulations to them and him for what hopefully will be an unadventful day in the middle . The bar at Merchant Taylors is well stocked . Heres to one of the great days of English Amateur football!! 

Whilst much more is given on the day by way of programme , player profiles etc the Matches are filmed and can be watched later on YouTube. Andy Nunn who has as you all know been prolific in his Arthurian Coverage again, quite heroic actually and something we should never take for granted, wont want be thanking him again again and again, but we should !!! Thank you Andy !! 

I have had some requests about following matches live. Those that film cannot provide that service but the Old Chigs will be streaming via VEO . There is an outside chance that the battery may last and a member of Old Chigs might be around for the Dunn final for coverage to continue but is something that will only be known on the day. 

For those that want to try this and can't be there for the JLC and the Dunn then please follow this instruction . A big thank you to Rory Taylor captain of Old Chigs for making the VEO possible . His instructions below . 

In order to watch the JLC (and potentially ADC) Final fixtures streamed LIVE, you will need to:

• Download the VEO Live App from the App Store
• Sign up (free) and Log in
• Follow our club - Old Chigs FC
• When the game goes LIVE - it should ping up with a notification (if turned on), and the game should be showing as LIVE under our club profile page. 

When available, games can be streamed only via your mobile/tablet - however if you have a smart TV, you can Airplay the game across to the TV to make full screen.