Horndean 3–2 Andover Town

This Saturday Andover Town travelled to Horndean to play an away game previously programmed for earlier in the season but changed due to the home side’s cup commitments. As the season draws to a conclusion Andover have found that winning has become more difficult and the last few league points required to guarantee them a promotion position are proving to be a challenge. This game resulted in the away team scoring two exquisite goals, however they were reduced to ten men early in the first half and throughout the match the loss was evident in their inability to prevent the home side scoring more. As usual this season Andover were able to field a strong squad for an away game, this time against Horndean. Immanuel Soetan was back in the team following injury and McAulie Stubbs made the starting eleven again as he had against Bashley in Andover’s last match.

Andover started well, in the first few minutes Jason Silver won a corner which was taken by Mike Gosney. It was a good cross which found Adam Costello who executed a fancy flick back which only just missed reaching a player in blue for a certain goal. Very shortly afterwards a good ball in from Michael Hubbard forced Horndean to give away another corner as Silver collected the Hubbard cross and prepared to pass to goal front. Once again Gosney took the corner and Luke Dempsey appeared to have more than one attempt to put the away side ahead as the ball spent sometime bouncing across the face of the goal. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be. Luke Cairney was called upon on a number of occasions to produce impressive saves in difficult situations. The first of which was within the first ten minutes when a free kick awarded to Horndean just outside the penalty area was taken by Liam Kyle. Not only did Cairney need to stop the direct kick he was also required to reposition as the clearance only travelled as far as Liam Kimber who did not hesitate to fire another on target. In the 10th minute Joe Wright made a tackle on the Horndean captain Ash Howes. Immediately the home team players were protesting the validity of the challenge. A fracas followed for some minutes, the end of which resulted in Wright being sent off with a straight red card. However the Andover professional spirit prevailed and within a minute of the sending off Zach Glasspool scored a goal that never looked like happening. He picked up the ball on the far wing and in a sole manoeuvre fended off at least three defenders to give himself a shot on goal. The ball was deflected but still found its way to the back of the net. This was a great response to going down to ten men and truly a one-of-a-kind goal. Unfortunately the loss of a player soon began to show. Horndean were able to use the gap in the Andover defence to work themselves into dangerous positions on a number of occasions. Dempsey had a particularly admirable game chasing down and fending off the home team forwards. On the rare occasions the Andover defence were beaten Cairney produced some of his finest saves this season. During this mid-half spell Horndean’s Benny Reed forced Cairney into one particular breathtaking stop when he launched a shot from the edge of the penalty box. Andover had to use their forwards in defending positions to protect their goal from attack. Unfortunately this left them short on scoring opportunities as only Glasspool was left up front to deal with any breakaway chances when the wingers were able to achieve a viable cross. In this period of play the inevitable happened. Horndean were able to exploit the lack of a defender and Howes found himself with a well placed cross at his feet in front of goal. At this time in the game the equaliser was well deserved and not unexpected by the away supporters. Horndean continue to attack for the remainder of the first half. Just before the break a free kick taken by Howes clearly followed a well rehearsed piece of set play. As the kick was taken a forward appear from behind the wall and received the ball unchallenged. Fortunately for Andover he was unable to control it and put it over for a goal kick. Only a minute later Gosney had an equally good chance from a free kick at the other end. The shot skimmed across the goal with Dempsey waiting eagerly to make his mark. Whilst the fans held their breadth the ball just missed making contact.

Half time Horndean 1-1 Andover Town

Andover returned from half time with a flying start. Not 20 seconds into this half Silver had a shot on goal and only a couple of minutes later Gosney forced, the ex-Andover goal keeper Lloyd Thomas, into a flying save a from one of his special free kicks. However it wasn’t long before Horndean were putting on the pressure again. Both Sam Hookey and Howes had good attempts with headers, again Cairney denied their attempts. The home side did not have all the play however as Soetan showed his speed and flare in one chance which only failed when he was just unable to beat the 4th defender. The constant pressure eventually penetrated the Andover defence again when Reed scored Horndean’s second in a shot that appeared from nowhere. The following five minutes saw the home side continue to make life difficult for Andover and once again they were able to overcome the normally unrelenting Town defence when Kimber scored from an easy opportunity to put his side up by two goals. Shortly after Horndean’s third goal Andover made a double substitution, with clearly only one aim, to score goals, as Reece Rusher and Harrison Gilkes replaced Hibberd and Soetan. Andover fans all know that Rusher has the ability to dramatically impact the play with his speed and skill. This time his mark on the game came from a set piece traditionally associated with Gosney, a free kick. Rusher stepped up to take the shot as the rest of the team positioned themselves to pounce if there were to be a rebound or deflection. The kick was taken and from the stand it could be seen straight away that it was on target. Zach Glasspool intuitively jumped over the incoming shot and it would appear that he got a touch as he has made claim to the goal . This Andover goal seemed to change the ambiance of the game and suddenly it felt like a cup tie. The away side chased everything in an attempt to salvage a point from the game. The last fifteen minutes were frenetic compared to the rest of the match, and an equaliser seemed a real possibility. However time eventually ran out for Andover and they received no points reward for their efforts during the afternoon. Nevertheless the skills shown to score both goals should be applauded and their impressiveness not lost in the overall headline of the defeat.