Seldom has one player influenced a game so much as Harvey did last night. 

Nick and I were informed that Harvey had forgotten his kit and had gone home to get it. He would miss the start.

Usually I would go for the extra man in an 8 v 7 situation but yesterday I decided to go for first pick. That's because I was fed up of getting hammered in the last couple of seasons when I picked. The plan was to go for a team with as many young runners as possible and while he's not that young Harvey also fitted the bill. This meant my team would start with only 6 men.

The game began with a cold lazy wind, the type that goes straight through you and not around you. The 8 man whites seized the initiative right from the start and had us constantly under pressure. However Mike and Nick B were resolute in defence. Time really dragged as we waited for Harvey and what a relief it was when he arrived at 8.15 with the score still nil nil. We immediately started to push forward and the game became much more even. 

The teams changed ends at half time and a very tight contest continued with the whites just having the upperhand. Sylvain and Nick E came closest with shots that I was just able to turn round the post. At the other end we had a couple of shots which were blocked on the line by Noel and Neil.

As the game entered the last quarter it was looking increasingly like a nil niler, then after some good work on the right, Harvey fired in what looked like an optimistic cross which somehow sailed into the net. There was only a few minutes left and we managed to hang on for a narrow one nil win.

Man of the match for me was Nick Brown who played a blinder. The rest of the team put in a great shift to keep out the whites.

Many thanks to the whites for being so sporting at the beginning when Harvey was missing. I didn't think you pressurised us as much as you could have done which ultimately made for a better match.