Southampton 4 - 3 Andover

Andover travelled away to a Southampton side who were relegated in the league last season so were always going to be a tough opponent. However after wining 4 of 5 into pre season Andover's confidence was sky high and that showed in the first 5 minutes with the squad pressing high up the pitch forcing Southampton into simple mistakes. With this came Andover first goal of the game when George Allmark pounced on some scrappy defending to lift the ball over the goalkeeper. Before Southampton could get settled Liam O'Sullivan and Hayden Jenkins gave the oppositions defence no time at all stealing from a defenders poor pass which allowed Jenkins to score from close range and take a 2-0 lead. Andovers midfield were controlling the game with ease in the first 20 minutes of the game with flowing passing between James Pawley, Oliver Woolf and Mark Eggington this allowed the strikers and wingers the freedom to move and work the channels. However an unfortunate injury to James Pawley seemed to unsettle the squad and that allowed Southampton to get a chance on goal stepping in from the centre of the pitch and passing the ball past Baverstock. Half time was just around the corner and Andover were trying to hold onto their lead until then, however some poor interplay allowed Southampton to break and had an easy 2 on 1 chance which they put past Baverstock again to level the game up on the stroke of half time.
Both teams came out in the second half pushing hard to take the lead. Andover had 3 consecutive short corners that they were a unable to convert and it was the same at the other end with Southampton having a number of short corners but also unable to convert. However the breakthrough came midway through the half with Southampton piling pressure on Andover's defence, they managed to force some gaps and get a 3rd goal past a disappointed Baverstock. Andover heads went down after surrendering a 2 goal advantage and captain James Pawley had to play through the pain barrier and rally his teammates, which he did by dominating the passing through the midfield and allowing the strikers to win another short corner, resulting in Ben Anthony firing a perfectly rehearsed short corner into the far corner of the goal from the top left of the D. Andover had a new lease of life and slowly started to grow back into the game, taking control of each aspect of the pitch and putting Southampton under all sorts of pressure, Liam O'Sullivan had 2 chances to give Andover the lead and probably take the win but unfortunately missed both very narrowly. However with only a few minutes left in the game Southampton managed to win a final short corner which Baverstock managed to save the resulting drag flick but a Southampton attacker was quickest to react and volley home in the bottom corner meaning Andover suffered a disappointing defeat.