Andover Town0–3○Verwood Town

Andover Town set out to score their first points of the league season. Verwood came to the Portway as the league leaders so any points were going to be difficult. Andover fans were pleased to see the return of Solomon Mawo however Nathan Lunness was not available after sustaining an injury in the game with Romsey earlier in the week. The game once again tested keeper Kieran McHardy, including a penalty, which he saved. However there was still some extremely positive play reinforcing the demonstration of potential which is clear to those who have been watching the progression of this new team.

The match started as pretty even and the first minutes of play saw the ball in midfield most of the time. In an unexpected move, Verwood scored their first goal, when Ben Hatch made a run down the centre of the pitch, McHardy came out to save but Hatch chipped the ball over his head. Sam Mills chased in vein to recover the situation but he couldn’t catch up with the strike. Jordan Ragguette had the first Andover attempt when his shot was blocked and launched high into the air. Unfortunately it came back into the ground straight into the hands of Ed Tierney. Not long after Charlie Gajic had to clear for his team as a Josh Bertie free kick came tantalisingly close to giving Andover a well deserved goal. Andover were to have a few more near misses in the game. In the first half Jake Watson had a shot from a way out, although it was saved, on another day it would have a spectacular winner. Then just a few minutes before half time a Verwood corner set up Joe Kimber who launched a cracking shot. McHardy was stretched to his limits but he knocked it clear. The fans in the stand erupted into applause and even the away fans commented on the quality of save.

Half Time Andover Town 0-1 Verwood Town

Within the first minute of play Verwood found themselves have to defend a Bertie/Watson move on their goal. However the ball was to travel straight down to the other end where Andover conceded a corner. This corner resulted in Verwood’s second as Michael Johnstone found too much space to miss. The away side then had a purple patch hitting the goal post and forcing McHardy to make another match defining save as he was forced back onto his upright. On about the hour mark Verwood were awarded a penalty as two players came together and the officials conclude a foul had been committed. The Verwood captain Russel Dyer stood up to take. He hit the ball at Kieran McHardy’s left hand side but the Andover keeper read the penalty well and saved the shot to the delight of the home fans. Raguette and Nickoy Pinnock put a few good moves together and in the middle of the second half were close to scoring when Raguette ended up with the ball outside the penalty area and the crowd shouted shoot, he did but the ball went high over the crossbar. Andover continued to be challenged in defence. Both Mills and Owen Trapnell worked really hard to keep the hopes for league points alive. However with 20 minutes to go Gajic scored from a great cross that Eaton was waiting to put away if he had missed. Andover took the opportunity to make some changes and to try newly signed players. There was once again some promise from the changes but not enough to turn the game around. Not long before the final whistle Trapnell made a majestic cross across to Pinnock but there was no-one ready to put the ball away. Verwood had a few chances in the last minutes but Andover determination kept the ball out of their net. At the present time every game is a steep learning curve for the newly formed Andover team. Every player is giving their all and it wont be long until their hard work pays off. It is an exciting time as it feels like once the points start happening there could be some really spectacular wins.