Men 1st XI
Matches
Sat 19 Oct 2019
Camberley & Farnborough 1
3
6
Andover Hockey Club
Men 1st XI
L O’sullivan (6'), (31'), (66'), A Haigh (29'), B Anthony (36'), C Scowen (52')
Camberley & Farnborough 1 v Andover

Camberley & Farnborough 1 v Andover

Ian Bowry22 Oct 2019 - 07:51
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https://www.andoverhc.co.uk/te

Back to winning ways

Report written by ‘Beefy’ Haigh.

Andover 1s had been having a difficult time of late in the league with two defeats on the bounce leaving them on 3 points out of a possible 9.

The opening stages of the game were full of intricate and fast paced play by the men in white as Camberley were already showing signs of struggle even early on. After securing a strong base from the back where Jamie Hacker and Oliver Woolf were situated and finding Mark Eggington on the right as well as Dave Edwards on the left but also feeding the midfield with decent ball to expose the opposition defence to our aggressive forwards, led to Andover’s first goal as Hayden Jenkins found a foot in the D. This penalty corner ran to the top but was charged down, then rebounding to Angus Haigh who struck the ball into a scrambled goal mouth where Liam O’Sullivan was in the right place to slot it away. 0-1.

Andover continued to progress but found themselves weak at the back as a consequence of an attacking approach to the game. This meant that Camberley were starting to counter and finding outcomes, eventually leading to a goal after Andover failed to pick up a man in the D who dispatched it past the on-rushing Goalkeeper, Jordan Dennis. 1-1.

Despite conceding, Andover were creating the chances and dictating the game, finding space in the opponents D but making hard work of finding a goal until another goal mouth scramble after a route one hit into the D via Woolf hit the post and rebounded back to Haigh to first time finish it back into the Camberley goal. 1-2.

Soon after another opportunity from a penalty corner as again the injection made its way to Hacker at the top of the D, then laying it off to left slip, Liam O’Sullivan, who pushed the ball accurately into the bottom left corner. 1-3.

HT

As soon as the second half whistle was blown Andover flew out the blocks, restarting the pressure they had put on Camberley towards the end of the first. George Allmark was running rampant in the midfield and discovered Hacker round the D who launched a venturing ball into the danger area where Ben Anthony, fresh in to the season, opened his account for the year with a neat deflection past the bewildered keeper. 1-4.

The home side began to press a little higher, disjointing Andover’s long periods of passing play and entertaining the leading sides’ defence with a struggle to get out. This tactic soon paid dividends as Haigh attempted a cross field pass to an empty left sided pitch was picked up by an unnoticed substitute who ran onto the ball from the side of the pitch leaving him with a 1v1 with Dennis, but was second best, but through no fault of his own, when the Camberley forward slotted it past him. 2-4.

Andover continued to create chances however and knew they had more goals to come as Dan Allen was making himself busy up front as well as Jack Trott and Sam Goacher making light work of marshalling the midfield. But perhaps one of the best goals of the day was Andover’s 5th when Trott delivered a spin and pinpoint pass with his back to goal from outside the D to an unmarked, Charlie Scowen who did not need to be asked twice to diligently place the ball into the goal. 2-5.

It would seem after this goal, Andover became a little complacent and comfortable in the match which lead to the forcing of errors all over the pitch. But when an unexpected and uncharacteristic mistake came from Allmark as his pass into the midfield was picked off by a Camberley forward who was clinical enough to finish his solo effort. 3-5.

With Camberley & Farnborough now throwing the kitchen sink at the game, Andover saw the opportunity to grab more goals which was eventually the case as they grabbed another penalty corner. This one going straight to left slip where Liam O’ Sullivan was there to smartly hit the ball into the near post, continuing his good form in front of goal, taking his total to 5 from four games this season.

The Andover squad still have a lot to work on as they sit 4th in the table, 6 points behind top of the table but also conceding the 2nd most in the league. But many positives too, after a convincing win as they venture on to bottom side Chichester next week.

Match details

Match date

Sat 19 Oct 2019

Kickoff

13:00

Meet time

11:00

Instructions

Meet Wolversdene car park.
Team overview
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