Bishops Waltham Dynamos 2–3 Andover Town

Town were away again this afternoon and again on a plastic pitch against Bishops Waltham Dynamos who thrashed us 6-0 in early August. Portway may seem like a distant memory since its now the 3rd away match in a row. So Andover were looking to extend their winning run and get some kind of retribution after their last match against the home side.

Both teams settled quickly and both looked lively in the first quarter but Town went ahead in the 25th minute when top scorer Ryan Morgans found the net after creating space in the area. Morgans is currently in a rich scoring vein and always looks dangerous with his speed and close control. The home side fought to equalize and almost did in the 35th minute when Andover keeper Chris Redshaw somehow clawed away a fierce shot from Waltham’s Landreth. A passage of end to end play followed and the home side were looking dangerous and right on the stroke of half time in the 45th minute a cross from the right was met and fired in to make the score 1-1 at half time. A fair reflection at half time of both teams efforts in the first 45 minutes.

Bishops Waltham started the second half on the front foot and were awarded a penalty in the 52nd minute. Keeper Chris Redshaw somehow got across to his right with an outstanding save to push the ball round the right post to keep the score at 1-1. Straight away the home side were on the attack again and in the 55th minute number 10 Smith found the bottom of the net to make the score 2-1. The game was then pretty even until a superb bit of skill from Ryan Morgans in the 65th minute. He coolly lobbed the keeper from the edge of the area to make the score 2-2. At this stage any result seemed possible but again a brilliant shot from the edge of the area by Ryan Morgans in the 73rd minute flew into the net and gave the keeper no chance. Ryan Morgans duly completed his hat-trick to cap an outstanding individual performance. The last 15 minutes were tense with a great save from keeper Redshaw in the 86th minute to tip the ball onto the bar to keep Town in the lead. Andover defended stoutly and the delight from everyone showed when the game finally ended with a close fought victory at 3-2. Town’s impressive recent form continued with a 5th consecutive league win and they are now moving up the table.

The next match is at Portway against Denmead kick-off 3pm on Saturday October 5th.