Andover Town 1–1 East Cowes Victoria

On a dull miserable afternoon at the Portway Stadium, though the rain did not arrive until the final whistle, this was by no means a classic on a perfectly playable pitch but a game full of effort and endeavour and lacking any real threat from either side in front of goal. The home side largely dominated possession throughout but it is goals that win matches and they, on the day, badly lacked a cutting edge. Andover started brightly with a Zac Hine shot inches wide, a corner that was cleared with difficulty and Hine failing to make contact with a cross at the far post before Vics first real attack ended with Joe Butcher blocked by Brendon Holmes in the act of shooting and keeper Dave Tasker saving Jimmi Burton’s follow up. Howard Nhemachena, making his Andover debut and looking very comfortable with the ball at his feet, crossed low from the left but there were no blue shirts in the area and there was the same lack of threat when Holmes crossed from the other flank. Full back Adam Pattison joined the attack and was only just wide and were the game to be decided on corners Andover would already have been out of sight. The home side continued to drive forward with Higgins heading In to the side netting and Rueben Smith firing over after Owen Trapnell and Hine created the best opening of the half. Vics put themselves in danger by conceding a rather bizarre free kick when a defender picked the ball up for a throw before it had crossed the line but the kick was missed by all in the six yard box. Vics, while defending solidly, had shown little attacking threat and it was within ten minutes of half time before they won their first corner with Liam Newbold heading over. A Butcher cross was rather unceremoniously hacked to safety before, with the half time tea on the table, Vics took the lead. Burton’s pace took him clear on the right, Butcher controlled the cross, unselfishly pushed the ball to his left and Tyler GREENSLADE beat Tasker from twelve yards to make the aforementioned tea taste all the sweeter in the visitors dressing room.

Half Time Andover Town 0-1 East Cowes Vics

The visitors replaced Greenslade with the speedy Elias Ahmed on the re-start and the new boy swiftly won a corner after being allowed to run on from position that looked more than a suspicion of offside, Burton found himself in a one on one situation with the goalkeeper but slid the ball the wrong side of the post before the referee gave a “correct” offside decision when the flag stayed down. Steinbusse was at full stretch in the Vics goal to turn a Hine free kick round the post and Tom Pattison put a free header wide. The home side replaced Pattison and, surprisingly, Holmes before Ahmed met a Burton cross first time at the far post and bought the save of the afternoon from Tasker. The home side then had three free kicks in quick succession with the first two being blocked and the third bringing the scores level. The kick came from wide on the left, for once the defence hesitated, and ADAM PATTISON headed home from close range with some twelve minutes remaining on the clock. Burton was denied by a last ditch tackle at the other end and when Andover broke quickly Ben Emans pulled his shot across the face of goal. Town came close to taking the spoils when Josh Bertie saw a snap shot cannon off the bar before Ahmed beat Tasker and the post in another Vics break. With time running out Vics looked the victim of a very harsh decision. Forward and defender chased a through ball, there appeared to be nothing more than a collision and the referee, looking well placed, gave a free kick to Andover, a decision “accepted” by all, players and spectators alike. The referee’s attention was then drawn to the upraised flag of his assistant and after the briefest of conversations the defender was shown a red card. The resulting free kick was driven straight at the keeper and stoppage time saw no real further action and the points were shared. Andover will feel that given their monopoly of possession they should have won but on the day they hardly created a clear cut chance and the Vics, to their credit, defended superbly to add another away point to the three won a week earlier. Leaving aside the dismissal there was not a single caution, just the occasional word of common sense. It can be done.