Triumphant Diamonds

Andover Diamonds maintained their unbeaten record with an emphatic 6-2 victory over Havant. The first ten minutes of the game were fairly evenly matched and with chances at both ends. It looked like it was going to be the toughest challenge yet for the travelling Diamonds. Havant gained two penalty corners in quick succession. One of the Havant forwards was injured in the build up but managed to regain his composure enough to flick over the head of the advancing David Rutherford for the opening goal of the game.

The effect of the goal was to make the visitors step up a gear or two and it was a matter of minutes before they opened their account as Andy Thomson came charging in from the left wing, evading three tackles before loosing a shot to equal the scores.

Moments later, Greig Taylor picked up a shoddy clearance and found Mark Josling on the left of the D, who was lethal with his finishing to give Diamonds a well-deserved lead. Just before half-time, a series of passes from the Andover defence eventually found Taylor about twenty yards out. His thunderbolt pass into the area was deftly deflected by Richard Romer-Lee past the despairing Havant goalkeeper to make it 3-1 at half time.

Andover started the second half quite steadily with rock solid defence from Rob Oostendorp, Mike Boyne, Glyn Hacker and Richard Smale providing the foundations to build up for unrelenting attacks on the Havant goal. The fourth Andover goal came from a penalty corner which Thomson accurately hammered into the bottom left corner of the home side's goal.

In the sixty-fifth minute, it was Taylor once again who cracked in a shot which appeared to be going wide. The ever-alert John Priestley-Cooper controlled the ball before clinically finishing for Andover's fifth.

Suddenly, Havant sprung into life and managed to dominate for a short period during which they managed to burst through the Andover defence to score their second. The revival didn't last long and the visitors were soon back on top. The final goal of the match came from a through ball from Richard Romer-Lee to Josling who finished well. It was a tough match for Andover Diamonds with a very satisfactory result.