Andover Town 4–1 Ash United

Ash United travelled down from Aldershot to meet an Andover Town team who were anxious to improve radically on their worst performance of the season last Saturday. A very chilly afternoon at kick-off with a cold easterly wind but the pitch looked in excellent condition.

Both teams started brightly with Ben Emans looking threatening whenever he went forward. If Andover were looking for a quick start they certainly got it in the 10th minute when, following a goalmouth scramble, Zach Hine rose coolly to head the ball home just under the crossbar. Looking to increase the tempo in the 15th minute Town scored again to make it 2-0, Nehniah McKenley-Burke drove forward from midfield and skifully beat the keeper at the far post. In the 17th minute Callum Appleby was booked for a totally unnecessary challenge and if he erred again Andover would be down to 10 men – so unintelligent to do that so early into the match. After half an hour it seemed Town were cruising to an easy victory when in the 36th minute Jake Watson unleashed one of his trademark thunderbolts from 25 yards which positively flew into the net giving the Ash keeper no chance at all. And then in the 40th minute Andover scored the luckiest ever goal when a cross from David Gerrard accidentally hit Callum Appleby and went in – Appleby looked just as surprised as everyone when the ball crossed the line. As the first half closed Town were in total control but much to everyone’s surprise in the 44th minute a long range shot from Ash’s Gavin Muir eluded Steinborn- Busse to make the half time score 4-1. A much better performance in the first half but it has to be said that Ash offered little resistance.

At the start of the second half Taylor-Kelly was replaced by JJ Tucker and shortly afterwards Matt Morris came on for Appleby. It looked odds-on that Morris looked certain to score with a great run into the penalty area and a fierce shot which somehow the Ash keeper palmed away. There then followed a slew of missed chances by Town – first in the 56th minute a stinging shot from Brendan Holmes thumped against the crossbar, then Ben Emans just missed the post after a great run and in the 65th minute another terrific long range effort from Jake Watson was inches wide. By this stage Andover were in total control and it seemed inevitable that more goals would follow. They didn’t however and content with the score line Town comfortably closed out the game to make the final score 4-1.

Surprisingly no goals in the second half but hopefully Andover would get confidence from this performance and put them in good stead for the tough match against Downton on Tuesday evening after the match earlier in the season which was called off after 75 minutes because of floodlight failure with the score at 1-1. Kick-off at 7.45 Tuesday evening at Portway.