○Fleet Spurs1–7Andover Town

After meeting Fleet Spurs several times in the last few seasons in the Wessex League, they now play in the Thames Valley Premier League and their Kennels Lane ground has always been an attractive place to play. A still calm but dull afternoon greeted both teams at kick-off in this Hampshire Saturday Trophy 2nd round tie.

Both teams started confidently, moving the ball well and both looking quite comfortable. The first quarter saw both teams with end-to-end play but with no clear chances for either. The first real effort on goal came from Ryan Morgans in the 33rd minute when his well hit shot from the right edge of the area was only just over the bar. In the 35th minute Fleet almost took the lead when a shot from their number 9 hit the bar and bounced over. A bit of a let off for Town who managed the half out carefully to make the score at the interval 0-0 which was a pretty fair reflection of both team’s efforts.

The second half started very differently when Town took the lead as early as the 47th minute. Luke Holden found space on the right edge of the area and his superbly hit cross shot nestled into the back of the net to make the score 1-0. This goal seems to galvanize Andover because they then began to dominate possession and create chances. No real surprise when Holden broke through again in the area and slid the ball home on the 55th minute to make the score 2-0. After this the home side seems to get a little dispirited and then a whole catalogue of goal scoring opportunities and indeed goals followed in quick succession. In the 64th minute Ryan Morgans scored with a tap in to make the score 3-0 and almost immediately Town went 4-0 up. Luke Holden converted a penalty in the 66th minute to make it a hat-trick for him. And this did indeed knock the stuffing right out of the home side which was compounded in the 75th minute when again Morgans coolly rounded the keeper to make the score 5-0. Town were heading for the proverbial cricket score at this stage and yet somehow Fleet fashioned a chance in the 78th minute with a penalty which they converted to make the score 5-1. The last ten minutes saw another couple of goals for the visitors. In the 86th minute substitute Alfie Budd burst into the area and hit an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net to make the score 6-1. And to complete the scoring striker Burrows fired in from close range to make the final score 7-1.

Definitely as the old cliché goes this was a game of two distinct halves. AT 0-0 at half time and with the game pretty evenly matched no-one could have predicted the second half goal fest. Town’s second half performance was as good as it gets this season and they were very impressive. The next match is on Saturday November 9th away at league leaders Locks Heath kick -off 2pm. Locks Heath will be determined to avenge their earlier losses to Andover this season once in a league match and once in a cup match.