The Ops 6th XI took to the hallowed Three Hills turf in the marquee 3:30 game on Saturday, starting the game in the teeth of Storm Bert. Facing into the driving rain in the first half could have been a real challenge for young and old alike, but the 6's started brightly against an Old Wills team whose quality belied their lowly league position. Attacks were traded, with both sides handling the conditions well and moving the ball around at pace. Ops had the better of the early opportunities with Jake Davidson hitting the post with the keeper well beaten, and then narrowly smashing a fine reverse stick strike just wide. The Ops back 5 of keeper Charlie Milligan, Joseph Allon, Dave Whitehead, Simon Jones and skipper Steve Letley worked hard to repel the Old Boys attacks, and with a plentiful supply of subs, fresh legs were introduced in the form of both the youngest team member Daniel Andrews, and the oldest Dave Brazier, to maintain the stout defence. Ops began working the ball down the flanks, with Finn Letley and Evan Carter combining well on the right, and Arthur Ireland and Joel Davidson full of running down the left. Up front, centre forward Carl Bondzio harried the Old Boys defence, and Oscar Daley displayed dazzling skills to further pressure them. Ops finally made the breakthrough when Paul Andrews saw his powerful short corner strike take a tiny deflection off a defender's stick to wrong foot the keeper. Old Wills re-doubled their efforts, and the game became a real classic of attack and counter-attack. An equaliser went in just before half-time, to leave the game on a knife edge. Skipper Letley's team talk was another classic of the 'more of the same please' genre, but the Ops started the half ever so slightly off the pace, and paid the price when the Old Boys took the lead. A feature of this team this season has been its resilience in the face of adversity, and as the game became more stretched the youngsters fitness and speed really came to the fore. The defence remained steadfast, although Milligan made a couple of very fine saves to keep his team in the hunt. With Andrews sr driving forward and releasing the ever willing runners down the flanks, Ops finally got their reward when a shot on goal hit the post, span back onto the keeper and then landed at the stick of the poaching Bondzio to level things up. Ops continued to push for a winner, whilst also being vigilant in defence, but a 2-2 draw was in the end about the right result for an excellent game of hockey all round, despite the dreadful weather!