Mens three's continue their unbeaten start to the season

A strong but frustrating performance from Andover that was rewarded with two late goals to seal the game.

Southampton arrived with a comparable team with a range of ages on the pitch. With the numbers of youngsters on both teams, a gentleman’s agreement was struck to keep the have civil, which was held to throughout with very even tempered performance from both sides. Even when Big Sam hacked down a robustly challenging forward late in the game, it was his Andover team mates who protested!

The first fifteen mins of the games were dominated by Southampton’s skilful stars who threaded out players with ease, but after initial pressure the hosts wrestled the game back to exert constant pressure for the rest o the game. The occasional break was met with strong tackling from defence and with young legs on our wings Andover made good use of space to stretch the game. Despite many opportunities for the Andover forwards it was 0-0 at half time, a testimony to Southampton’s aggressive goal keeper.

The goal keepers play on the edge of the D was identified by Craig in the Andover goal, and the Andover attack adjusted to suit. The second half was played in the Southampton half and soon the short corners began to stack up. Deflection after deflection opportunities from Bowers never bore fruit and frustration began to set in. Heads went down tactical play suffered until Southampton’s only short corner led to an Andover break through the middle that allowed Jay to chip the keeper and score Andover’s first with two minutes left of the game.

Pressing the advantage, Andover found themselves in D a minute later when Bowers exploited the Southampton keepers premature dive to sail it past into the back boards with one minute on the clock. At the final whistle, both teams had earned Bowers’s famous home cooked chilli back in the Legion; the game having been a template of sportsmanship and composure.

MoM: Liam Kavanagh for another exemplar show of limitless energy and grit in the midfield.

DoD: Sam Richards for his aforementioned imitation of a lumberjack who hasn’t been able to hang out in bars in women’s clothing for a while.