Another early fixture saw the 6s departing 3 Hills at the crack of dawn for the trip to Old Williamsonians. The reverse fixture had been a tight 2-2 draw, and the Ops knew they were in for a challenging game. The Ops started brightly though, moving the ball around well and probing the opposition D. Oisin Doyle in goal was marshalling his defence of Daniel Andrews, Steve Letley and Dave Brazier, as they broke up any OWs attacks and released Arthur Ireland and Paul Andrews in the middle of the park. With Oakley Nicholls and Joel Davison marauding down the flanks to release Finn Letley, Josh Scooter and Steven Rowe up front, the Ops looked in the mood. Joseph Allon, once he managed to find a gumshield to use(!) entered the fray, along with Jake Davison, and both ran strongly at the OWs defence. OWs began to assert themselves in the game more, with some of their play once again belying their mid-table status, and with one breakaway they managed to open the scoring, albeit with the Ops defence adamant that an attacking foot had intervened somewhere along the line, and that the goal should have been chalked off. The Ops could have been deflated by this, but as per usual, they picked themselves up and continued to fight hard for everything. Several short corners were earned, but just could not be converted. When OWs earned a short corner on the stroke of halftime, an unfortunate deflection saw them take a 2-0 lead into the break. The Ops came out raring to go for the second half though, and despite the odd missed trap, or misplaced pass, still looked like the quality hockey side they are, as they ramped up the pressure. Eventually, a short corner did pay off. Andrews sr slipped the ball back to Ireland, who passed across the face of the goal for Rowe to dive full length and apply a fine finish. Minutes later, a similar move saw Rowe denied by the post for the 3rd time in 2 games. Ops really had their tails up now, but an OWs breakaway saw them net a third goal with about 10 minutes left. However, within 2 minutes Ops were back in the game when some fine work down the left flank by Allon and Jake Davison saw Andrews sr slip his marker in the D to earn some space, and finish with a cute reverse stick shot to setup a rousing final few minutes. Despite pushing hard for a well deserved equaliser, it just wasn't to be, but the youngsters received some great compliments from their opponents for their skill and tenacity and Letley sr rightly stated how proud they should be for their mornings work.