Our report on the 2024 Remembrance Day ceremony and match with the Royal Navy is available here.

Jets Stun Penn

Penn & Tylers Green 1 Oxhey Jets 2
Cherry Red Combined Counties Division One
30th November 2024

Jets produced a stunning result on the Road against second-placed Penn & Tyler, and they had to do it the hard way, playing the last half hour with ten men following Olly Popes red card ( 2 yellows)

The only result that comes close to challenging this as the result of the season so far is the home win over Windsor and Eton earlier in the season. Still, the sheer determination and effort needed today is an absolute tribute to every player. Jets were rocked by withdrawals, so again, it was a reorganised side, but they were angry and determined as a unit to play from the heart today.

It was a league debut for young Henry J Ford, and he was outstanding when called upon to make a few stunning saves on the rare occasions Jets’ defence was beaten.

The first-half Jets were stunning, playing some smooth football on a good surface, but the opening goal was incredible. Returning from Injury, David Lopes jinked and went to play in the winger, but spotting the keeper off his line, unloaded a fierce dipper over the keeper and high into the net a full 40 yds plus out that the keeper could only watch in horror as it hit the net, a genuinely incredible goal 0-1 (10 min)

This was an end-to-end open game. Both sides looked good, but maybe I’m biased. The Jets were turning it on, and we were threatening for goals on both ends; Patrick and Elliot were burning up the wings, while the defence was faultless at the other end.

A sweet move opened up Penn when Lopes again split the defence, Brander to full back Archie Sykes, whose perfect pullback found Dominic Mosca unmarked to run the ball into the net (0-2 35 mins)

The Jets were buoyant, and second-placed Penn was stunned. 14th gave 2nd the runaround, and the Jets kept the lead up to the break.

Penn reorganised and definitely had more muscle in the second half, and as the game got further in, the referee started brandishing both sides with cards; one for Olly Pope for pulling an attacker down who battled the ball off him, which was later to prove critical to Jets game.

Jets could and should have increased the gap, but top scorer Dominic Mosca was not having the luckiest of days today.

Jets were flowing again, Harris and Brander burning up the wings, but then Olly Pope tackled a defender on the edge of the box, and immediately a yellow Red was pulled out; in fairness, the ref was not wrong, but now a different Jets was needed.

The response with the substitutions and every player out there was truly magnificent. Every ball and pass was contested as Penn swarmed forward, knowing they had half an hour to save the match. But Jets are fast. Although now rarely exploring the counters, more than once, they opened Penn’s defence, and twice, Mosca was one on the keeper but couldn’t get the final touch.

But mostly, this was a rearguard action, and Craig Stephen Lett was having his best game since returning to the club. He was faultless today, but it’s hard to single anyone out.

Three minutes into stoppage time, Alfie Branwhite slotted a searching ball across the box (1-2 93 min), and it was game back on; Jets threw everything Jets contained and played out, going straight for the corner flags or playing contained keep the ball when they could and time ran out.

The staff expressed their pride in the side and performance, which was praised well deserved.

I asked for a man of the match. Can’t they all get it? That was the question, but they had to narrow it down. David Lopes’s stunning goal and an assist, the young GK Henry did all that was asked of him, but the two contenders, Craig and James Kimber, went head to head; the nod in this stunning match went to Craig.

The A team played top of the table, and here is the manager’s summary.

Jets A lost 2-1 to top of the league Harpenden today.
We were 1-0 down at HT but still definitely in the game. In the second half, we were the better team. We eventually got the breakthrough with a nice finish by Dhyan Sharma to make it 1-1. We continued to press but couldn’t get a breakthrough. Unfortunately, in the dying minutes, we conceded what was to be the winner. A brilliant performance by the squad, a defeat that is very hard to take.