Football: Season Start

And what a start to the 2014/15 season the 1st XI have made! Following on from their unbeaten promotion season in 2013/14, they were handed a tough start to their return to the Arthurian League Premier Division with games against three of last season’s top five in September. First up were Old Carthusians – last season’s unbeaten champs – and the OKC came so close to causing an upset. Following a deserved first half goal, we were leading 1-0 until the 70th minute before an equaliser and a late winner snatched away the points for Charterhouse.

The Old King’s Club were not to be perturbed, however, and a battling point was earned in a 1-1 draw against last season’s runners-up Lancing Old Boys before we registered our first win of the season against Old Cholmelains with a hard-fought 2-0 victory in the rain. This was followed last Saturday by perhaps our most satisfying moment so far when we took on Old Etonians – who defeated us in the Arthur Dunn Final in 2010 and confined us to relegation in 2012/13 – and we romped to a 6-2 victory with Dan Phipps (OK 2003) scoring a hattrick.

The 2nd XI have had a slightly more disjointed start to the campaign with skipper Chris Tolley (OK 2008) and vice-captain Ramon Selvakumaran (OK 2008) both falling to injury in the opening weeks before narrow defeats against Old Harrovians II (2-3) and Old Millfieldians (1-3) found them languishing near the bottom of the table. However, a morale-boosting 1-0 win against table-topping Old Berkhamstedians has done much to raise spirits and they will look to use to momentum to rise up a very evenly-matched league.

Finally, the Old King’s Club have been well-represented in the Arthurian League Representative XI over the past few months. Mike Tilles (OK 2002) captained the side to only their fourth victory over the SAL in 30 years in April (also scoring the only goal of the game!) while 1st XI captain Nick Perry (OK 2003) and winger Alex Angel (OK 2010) have been selected for the side. There are several games this season against the likes of Oxford University, The SAL, The AFC, The London Legal League and The Navy and we will be striving to get more of our star-players included in the squads.