Andover Town4–5○Petersfield Town

This weekend Andover Town played host to Petersfield Town in a Wessex League game. It is fair to say that the away team were saved by the bell, as although Andover probably had one of their worst starts to a game this season the second half was a completely different story. The last half hour of play was enthralling as Andover suddenly found the back of the opponents net not so difficult to reach.

Within the first ten minutes Andover had gone three down. The first Petersfield goal came after only 2 minutes as Jake Bourton crossed to Jordan Neal who managed to header the ball past an Andover defender and the keeper, David Tasker. Andover seemed to be struggling to get going and shortly afterwards Callum Coker received a pass from deep in his own half and found himself with little challenge as he set off to score. His shot looked at first like a near miss as it hit the goal post but the ricochet brought it back into the goal for Petersfield’s second. Their third was classic set play from a corner. Jon Byerley connected to make a clean header from an extremely well placed inbound kick. Only 2 minutes later Bourton should have added to Petersfield tally as he had an open goal but seemed to be aiming for the car park. The Andover players needed to dig deep to raise their spirits after such a start. They had a few chances, the first from a free kick taken by Josh Bertie which almost resulted in Jordan Ragguette’s first goal. The second from a Bertie corner which gave Sam Mills the opportunity for a shot, but although it passed through the defenders, Tim Jackson had no difficulty in saving. Shortly after these attempts Nickoy Pinnock took a ambitious shot from the side of the goal. It was saved by Jackson but it set the scene for things to come. He also found himself the recipient of the ball from some very clever work by Waledin Ahmed, but if it looks to good to be true it probably is, and the space Pinnock had found was deemed to be too much as the offside flag was raised. At this time Petersfield were still dominating midfield. Mills and Owen Trapnell were working hard to prevent the away side’s chances being converted until the 21st minute when Coker once again was able to break down the Andover defence to score his second. However, following Pinnocks earlier shot on goal, the Andover forwards seemed more empowered to just have a go. With ten minutes to go in the first half Josh Bertie took what looked like a lazy shot toward the Petersfield goal. The ball was extremely accurate and Jackson completely misjudged it so Andover had scored their second league goal of the season. The crowd cheered like they had won the game.

Half Time Andover Town 1-4 Petersfield Town

The second half was a completely different affair. From the start the Andover forwards took control of the game and seemed to rattle off a shot every time the crowd screamed shoot. Ragguette began to sparkle. He went wide with his first attempt before the half time Bovrils had started to cool. A sequence of Petersfield forced errors allowed Andover to dominate the start of this half. Then, completely against the flow of play, Petersfield scored their fifth from a header by Harry Giles as a result from a long cross in from close to the corner post. Undeterred Andover continued with their attacking play. Again and again they were creating chances but not quite putting it away. There were several shots taken from long distance, which although not always effective, did thrill the crowd. Then in the 72nd minute Josh Bertie sealed the deal again. His shot from a long way out was sensational. Jackson had no chance but to watch as his net felt the full force of the Bertie goal. Within seconds of the restart Jordan Ragguette beat two defenders and whacked the back of Jackson’s net again. Andover had only scored one league goal up to this point but suddenly it all came together. Andover continued to push as they saw league points within their grasp. With less than 5 minutes of the game to go a Bertie corner eventually found Jordan Ragguette who took his time and put the home side tantalisingly close to those league points. Cole Oates was to have the best chances to bring the side level but he ran out of time and the two opportunities which came his way were just out of his reach. If Andover continue to play like the second half they will end the table much higher than they are presently. Although it wasn’t the points score they might of hoped for the match was extremely exciting and they seemed to have now mastered all aspects of the game required to start notching up the wins.