○New Milton Town1–1Andover Town

Warm sunshine greeted the two teams at kick-off in this top of the table clash between second placed New Milton and third placed Andover Town. A good crowd was in attendance for this eagerly awaited match.

The game started at a brisk pace with the ball flowing from end to end. A nice though ball from JJ Tucker in the 11th minute freed up Ben Emans for a shot but the opposition keeper came out quickly to smother the shooting chance. The first yellow card came in the 12th minute when New Milton's centre back and captain Joe Kimber made a rash challenge on Matt Morris on the edge of the box but Town were unable to fashion a scoring chance. After the first 15 minutes the game settled down into a more controlled pace, both teams were playing well in midfield with little goalmouth incident. As the half progressed New Milton were going forward well and it felt like Andover were vulnerable to a swift break.

In the 32nd minute a wickedly deflected shot from the home side produced an outstanding save from keeper Steinborn-Busse. Both teams were pressing hard for the breakthrough as the half wore on and in the 38th minute centre back Corey Taylor-Kelly took, in the vernacular, one for the team and felled the number 10 on the edge of the box and got an obvious yellow card. The first half ended with both teams playing well and both coming close to scoring on a couple of occasions and it seemed this game could go either way in the second half. Half time score 0-0.

The second half started brightly and in the 49th minute a great through ball found Matt Morris one on one with the keeper who pulled off an outstanding save to keep the scores level. Play was still very much end to end but the deadlock was broken by Andover in the 68th minute when a corner from the right was powerfully headed in by Corey Taylor-Kelly. At this stage though it seemed pretty certain that the score would not remain the same because both teams continued to press and the action was certainly end to end. And in the 70th minute Town conceded a definite penalty when the New Miton striker was unceremoniously hauled down in the box. Ben Cooper stepped up and hit the penalty low and hard into the bottom left of the net giving Steinborn- Busse absolutely no chance. Substitutions from both sides followed and in particular the Andover subs of Qudos Ogunyemi and Charlie Chatee certainly upped the ante as the game entered the final quarter. Still at this stage in what was a very exciting duel either team could have easily scored the winner. In the 81st minute a certain goal for New Milton was thwarted by an outstanding tackle in the penalty area from Taylor-Kelly. Then in the 89th minute Ben Emans looked odds on to score the winner when he fired a fierce shot across the face of the goal which smacked against the left upright The last few minutes were remarkably tense as both teams were hell bent on getting the winner but both teams had to be pleased with a 1-1 score line.

This indeed was a really exciting game full of good football and a pleasure for the crowd to see. It was played in a good spirit and a draw was a very fair result. It was easy to see why both teams are locked together near the top of the table and both will be looking forward to the return match at Portway next February.

Next match is another tough one when league leaders Downton travel the short distance to Portway on Tuesday next October 11th kick-off 7.45pm.