With an incredible start to the season helping to keep spirits and confidence high, the Icarus Vets travelled to the heart of London and a venue that can only be described as spectacular. On a very well kept pitch which must be close to the upper limits of allowable size, and with residential buildings and business skyscrapers surrounding the small piece of nature, the 12 strong vets squad knew it was going to be our toughest game of the season. The Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) has been consistently tough to beat for some time, and may well have taken the title of 'best opposition' away from the Bromley Vets, who Icarus beat 5-2 just a few weeks before.

The game kicked off and each team fought hard to establish and impose their own strategy and tactics on the game. It was clear however, that the HAC had a little more quality and composure on the ball and were stringing some quality moves together. The Icarus defence was equal to everything that the HAC could throw at them and occasionally managed to get a long ball either up to JP, who did a great job holding the ball up, or to Woody who chased down anything that moved the whole game. Unfortunately for Icarus however, a slightly short pass on the edge of the box gave an opportunity to the HAC to curl the ball into the top right hand corner of the goal. The Icarus keeper, Smithy, had no chance, as it really was a superbly taken goal - even if it was a gift of an opportunity.

Icarus appeared somewhat shell-shocked by this and resorted to treating the ball as a hot potato, rushing passes and getting caught on the ball. The HAC's tails were up and they seemed to have all the time in the world to stroke the ball about the park, switching it from left to right and utilising defenders in acres of space to tire out our hard working centre forwards and midfielders. The HAC's second goal came from another mistake in a dangerous area. We just seemed unable to clear our lines and the ball was tucked away in a 1 on 1 with Smithy again being given no chance at all. From corners we were commanding and dominant with Smithy and the defenders performing admirably. However, Icarus' discipline started to falter as frustration started to get the better of some players. Determination, hard work and crunching tackles stemmed most of the HAC's attacks, which were coming in waves, but the defensive back four were very well organised and did well to reduce Smithy's workload.

The half time talk from the Manager (Pete Beer) and Captain (Rich Pratley) was a good dose of reality and we were reminded that although we were playing a quality side we were still in the match and could go on to win it. Rejuvenated and galvanised we took to the field again and quickly established ourselves as a much-improved outfit. Passing moves for Icarus now started to accumulate and we dominated the first 10 minutes after the re-start. This terrific attitude and composure culminated in a fantastic goal where the outstanding player for the Icarus Vets this season, John Fox, darted into the 6 yard box to head home a beautifully lofted pass from the left side of the field. With our tails up we now grew in confidence and stature and continued to dominate for a further 5 minutes and created several chances that narrowly missed. The HAC however, had other plans and though it was them that were now getting frustrated they steadily returned to dominating the possession and Icarus legs were tiring. After 20 mins the HAC combined well to score again and put the game out of reach. Both teams continued to fight until the end with several chances for each team going begging but to the agony of Icarus the Referee blew the whistle on the first defeat of the season.