○Whitchurch United0–2Andover Town

On a bitterly cold evening when in fact there had been an afternoon pitch inspection because of frost the North Hants derby against Whitchurch United (aka The Jam Boys) kicked off a few minutes late caused by severe traffic delays on the M3. Andover Town fielded a particularly strong bench which included both Brendan Holmes and Lewis Williams who had both played a full 90 minutes in afternoon matches. It was important that the performance in the Totton game on Saturday was quickly forgotten and put to right for tonight’s encounter. Despite Whitchurch’s lowly league matches historically they have always been doughty opponents and tonight would surely be no exception.

Both sides started brightly with lots of fast passing movements and in the 10th minute Malachi Johnson found Zach Hine in space and he fired in a fine shot from the left edge of the area which the keeper parried away. This was to be the first of many interventions from Hines which would later earn him the man of the match accolade. The half progressed at a brisk pace and Whitchurch pressed hard with several breakaways. Indeed in the 27th minute Town keeper Daniel McCarthy saved very well from a shot by Whitchurch striker Denham. Again McCarthy impressed throughout the game with his safe handling, excellent positional sense and good shot stopping ability. As the first half progressed both teams were pushing hard for the opening goal with some fierce encounters particularly in midfield. But half time arrived with no breakthrough from either side and the score remained at 0-0.

The second half started scrappily and Town needed to establish some rhythm if they were to break down United’s defensive cover. In the 53rd minute Nehniah McKinley-Burke had a shot from long distance which just skimmed over the bar. This was matched by a cross and shot from the Whitchurch number 9 which shaved the far post. Substitutions then followed from the 68th minute onwards when first Lewis Williams and then Brendan Holmes took the field. The speedy Lewis Williams looked lively and when it looked like it was going to finish 0-0 he opened the scoring when he coolly slid the ball home in the 81st minute. Andover were looking comfortable at this stage and were managing the game well in the last ten minutes and then substitute Matty Morris broke free in the penalty area and fired in a low shot in the 92nd minute which easily beat the keeper to make the score 2-0 to Town.

The game ended with a 2-0 scoreline which was a fair enough result and it was certainly an improvement from Town after their very disappointing performance against Totton. The next game is at Portway on Saturday February 11th kick off 3pm where the visitors are Petersfield Town who are going very well this season and are currently in 4th position in the league. So another tough match in prospect.