Andover Town2–4○Verwood Town

After their stirring performance in the Wessex League Cup semi-final Andover Town were hoping to reverse the away scoreline of 0-3 to Verwood Town. Sunshine and heavy showers greeted the two teams at kick-off and a fair sized crowd of 138 was in attendance.

Verwood started brightly putting Town on the back foot right from the start and it was no real surprise when they opened the scoring in the 10th minute. The home defence was caught far too square and there was an easy finish for number 10 Carswell. Verwood continued to dominate and keeper Dan McCarthy saved brilliantly and kept the score down to 1-0 when a second goal looked a certainty. After the first 15 minutes Andover were definitely second best and particularly sloppy in defence and needed to up the anti if they were to get back into the game. However in the 17th minute a good goal from Town made the score level. A cross from the left found Matty Morris unmarked in the area and he coolly slotted home to make the score 1-1. Andover were growing into the game more and more and their followed a bizarre set of events when they scored three times in succession all of which were ruled marginally offside. In the 25th minute a fierce shot by skipper Holmes flashed just over the bar. At this stage the home side were on top but were undone again in the 35th minute when number 7 Burpitt found space on the left and comfortably beat the keeper from 18 yards to make the score 2-1 to Verwood. The half ended with that same scoreline which fairly reflected the first half play.

A fairly sedate start to the second half was brought to a halt when yet another defensive error let in McWillams who made the score 3-1 to Verwood this giving Town a mountain to climb if they were to get back into the game. They certainly put in lots of effort to do just that and created a ridiculous number of chances but just couldn’t score. But after lots of huffing and puffing Andover scored their second after 82 minutes when a low shot from Ben Emans found the back of the net thus ensuring a grandstand finish as they sought to equalize in the last ten minutes. In truth though Verwood saw the game out very well and in a rare foray into the Town half they made the score 4-2 in the 93rd minute.

So sadly another defeat and Town’s slide down the table continued to finish in 11th place. The impressive unbeaten start to the season and winner of the club of the month award for August now seem like a distant memory. Unusually next week sees 2 away matches, first on Tuesday to Fleet Spurs and then on Thursday to Millbrook, both with 7.45 kick-offs.