○Totton & Eling3–0Andover Town

On the first cold and wet Saturday of the season Andover Town travelled to Little Testwood Farm to play a team who have experienced an equally challenging a start to the season. The first half was the most promising yet for Andover as it gave them a clean sheet at half time, a feat not yet achieved. Kieran McHardy undoubtedly was pivotal in making this happen as the communication and understanding between himself and his defence was the best to date. However as the second half progressed cracks in the armour appeared and once again the experience of the opposing team was too much for Andover to contain.

The first half did not provide the crowd with a flurry of goals but there were a number of chances for both sides. In the case of Totton their attempts called on McHardy to save however Andover only managed to test Callum Ward a couple of times, but when they did the Totton keeper looked beatable. Brendan Holmes continues to play with a maturity way above his career to date. He found himself in a more attacking role than normal showing his versatility and adaptability. In the first 10 minutes both Holmes and Shaquille Gwengwe had rushed Ward in the hope of a keeper kicking error. On both occasions there was little reward however they were both brave moves. Following on a long ball in for Gwengwe put him in a goal scoring position, which Ward needed to header clear to prevent the centre forward from scoring. The ball came out for Josh Bertie who had Andover’s first shot on target, albeit straight at Ward. Totton’s first viable attempt was in the 17th minute when they were awarded a free kick just a few yards outside the penalty area. The kick was very good but McHardy was able to watch its trajectory as it sailed over the bar to wake the birds above the stand. The stand behind McHardy was brought into play on a number of occasions as the home side were less than accurate with their shots and when they did manage to find the target McHardy read each ball well and made the saves look easy. At the other end Andover were looking for that perfect build up but although there were a couple of fancy manoeuvres non of them resulted in a goal.

Half time Totton & Eling 0 - 0 Andover Town

At the start of the game the Andover fans would have been delighted with the prospect of the first points of the season, even if they had come from a nil all draw. But soon on in the second half there were already signs that the tightened up defence were beginning to struggle with the other team’s experience. The first Totton goal might have come sooner if it wasn’t for some fast running by Nickoy Pinnock, Holmes defending with a header and McHardy placing himself perfectly to counteract an attempt by Joe Selby. Then twenty minutes after the break Josh Metcalf found himself on the right end of a free kick and was able to angle the ball out of McHardy’s reach. The next two goals came quickly. The second was a result of Andover losing concentration momentarily and McHardy was left vulnerable. The 3rd actually took a deflection off an Andover player, leaving the keeper having to guess where it would go. Unfortunately it was into his net. The best opportunities in the remaining minutes of the game came firstly to Bertie with a free kick which went high over the crossbar and lastly to Pinnock whose header was good, but just not good enough. It was an interesting game. Andover have clearly overcome some of the initial problems which resulted in their early defeats. Firstly the keeper-defender relationship has not only improved but is visibly better, secondly they are not losing the game midfield anymore. This was demonstrated in the first half today for which the teams were evenly matched. Once all this learning is brought together into one game the result will be the reward their hard work deserves.