Diamonds earn point at Winchester

Andover Veterans secured their first point in Wessex Masters Division 1 when they came back from two goals down to secure a hard fought draw.

The half-term break meant a number of the Andover squad were unavailable & they were fortunate enough to give debuts to two Marks. Mark Taylor playing his first game in almost a decade gave a resolute performance at the centre of defence whilst Mark Lancaster was rightly named man of the match with a dominant performance in midfield.

The opening half was a tight affair with the Home Team enjoying the bulk of possession but with Andover looking dangerous on the counter attack. Winchester made their superior possession count late on in the half when they scored from a penalty corner. Andover came close to levelling before half time with chances from John Priestley-Cooper and Lance Mitchell being snuffed out by the Winchester defence.

There were no further goals before the interval, however Winchester doubled their lead early in the second period this time the ball being bundled in from a broken down penalty corner. To their credit, Andover didn't allow their heads to fall & the tireless running of forward John Priestley-Cooper was rewarded in winning their own penalty corner. Priestley-Cooper's initial shot was smartly saved by the Winchester keeper but the ball fell to Mike Boyne and he finished from close range.

In the final five minutes, Andover completed their comeback when another attack resulted in the award of a penalty corner. This time Glyn Hacker executed a perfect corner routine finding Boyne again to smash home the equaliser.

The Diamonds take a break from league action next Saturday when they welcome Newbury & Thatcham to John Hanson for their 3rd game in the cup competition.