○Moneyfields Reserves1–3Andover Town

Sunshine and heavy showers greeted Town as they travelled down to Portsmouth to play Moneyfields Reserves. How times have changed for both teams, not that long ago Andover were topping the Wessex Premier League and were positioned well above Moneyfields first team. And now Moneyfields won the Wessex Premier league last season and were promoted to the Isthmian league in their brand new very impressive stadium which was funded by the Portsmouth Community Trust.

On yet another 3G pitch kick off came in bright sunshine with a sizeable crowd and both teams looked pretty bright right from the start. After a very fast start Andover opened the scoring in the 12th minute when a deep cross from the left found Malachi Johnson who slid the ball in from close range to make the score 1-0. The end to end pattern of play continued at a brisk pace with both teams fashioning scoring chances. Moneyfields took one in the 18th minute when number 10 Kryemadhi headed home from a corner to equalize and make the score 1-1. At this rate it looked like this would be a high scoring encounter. As the half progressed this was an exciting watch as both teams pressed forward at every opportunity. No more real chances and the half ended with the score at 1-1 and this game could go either way with Moneyfields belittling their lowly league position.

Town started the second half on the front foot and were moving the ball very well. In the 61st minute Town won a penalty and up stepped Ryan Morgans to continue his rich scoring vein. Surprisingly his well hit shot into the bottom right hand corner hit the post and cannoned out of play. The half continued in end to end fashion and it seemed that the next score would be decisive in determining the result. But in the 73rd minute full back Alfie Budd found space a long way out on the right and was it a cross or a shot, it didn’t matter because the ball looped over the keeper to make the score 2-1. With 20 minutes to go Moneyfields were determined to equalize and Andover had to defend stoutly. In the 78th minute a corner from the left found an unmarked Luke Holden who steered the ball home to make the score 3-1. With them cruising and for no fathomable reason Town lost their cool for the last 10 minutes, first manager Bertie was yellow carded after his rant at the referee, this followed his red card last week and this is unwelcome from the manager on the sidelines. His team don’t need this from him as they tried hard to secure the victory. And in the 88th minute Ryan Morgans was sin binned following something he said to the referee and with 10 men Town finished the match holding on to their 3-1 lead.

Another excellent performance with Town now on a real roll winning 7 on the trot and pushing up to 3rd in the league. The next match is away to league leaders Locks Heath in the first round of the George Mason Memorial Shield which should be a good test. Saturday October 19th kick-off 3pm