Romsey Town VD (was 2–3) Andover Town

The Test Valley derby with Romsey Town has always been a closely fought encounter and today will be no exception since Romsey have had a good start to the league this season and are in 4th position at the start of play. Some welcome additions to the squad for Andover which would hopefully produce a better result than recently.

Andover have been starting their games woefully in recent weeks and today was no exception since they were 2-0 down after only 5 minutes. Well taken goals with the defence missing in action came from Ethan Madden and Joe Sutherden. This felt like a carbon copy of last week’s result but encouragingly Andover settled down after the goals and were playing with more conviction. But then came a horrendous incident in the 33th minute when Alfie Budd broke into the penalty area and was innocuously challenged by Miles Bartram the Romsey keeper. It was immediately obvious that the injury was very very serious when the keeper immediately cried out to the bench and straight away turned his attention to Alfie who was lying prone in the heavy rain for a good 20 minutes with no movement whatsoever until the ambulance arrived. It was not apparent what the injury was but it was such that it was another 30 minutes until Budd cold be moved onto a stretcher to be taken to hospital in the ambulance. Everyone in the ground, players, officials and crowd were visibly upset by the situation and there was a long and sustained applause when Alfie left the field. It was terrific to see that Miles Bartram the Romsey keeper stayed by Alfie’s side and comforted him until he went to hospital. Play was stopped for at least 50 minutes and when it restarted it was understandably a pretty subdued affair. Whether Romsey had lost their concentration or not Reggie Hadan fastened onto a through ball in the 41st minute to beat the keeper and make the score 2-1 at half time.

The second half started well and it became a very even contest. Arguably Romsey had the majority of the possession but resolute defending and poor finishing was eventually to prove decisive. Andover were growing more and more into the game and Sanjay Samuda thought he had scored in the 81st minute but it was ruled out by a very marginal offside call. But Andover were now pressing hard and in the 81st minute sub Runo Agberhiere fended off two challenges and scored to make the score 2-2. Andover continued to press and were thrillingly rewarded in the 89th minute when Reggie Hadan scored his second to make the score 3-2. Holding on strongly for the last few minutes Andover joyously ended their long losing sequence with a terrific victory at Romsey.

Sadly it was such a shame to see the dreadful injury to Alfie Budd (which we understand was a discolated knee cap) and the entire club and supporters wish him well. Notwithstanding that this was a very encouraging performance by Andover who played with great conviction and sustained effort. Is this the start of the turnaround for the season – let’s all hope it is. The next match is a North Hampshire cup tie on Saturday October 21st away to Hampshire Premier League Stockbridge kick off 3pm.