Wanderers Ladies 2 Andover Ladies 0
Andover travelled to top of the table Wanderers wanting to build in last week’s performance. The first half started well. Andover were buzzing, working hard and hassling a rather shell shocked Wanderers side. However, despite this endeavour hand hard work were unable to score. The second half continued in the same vain, with Rhea Li and Karen Winnett working tirelessly in midfield. A lapse in concentration led to Wanderers breaking the deadlock, which they doubled when a penalty stroke was awarded for the ball being cleared off the line. The umpire believed it had hit Liz Hacker’s body, when it had clearly come off her stick. A frustrating trip, but lots of positives came from the game.
Southampton University Ladies 6 Andover Ladies 2nd XI 2
Andover ladies 2’s suffered a heavy defeat away to Southampton University. Andover started well and took the lead. A good ball in to Jacqui West from Immy Collins saw West slot the ball passed the Uni keeper. Their lead didn’t last long however as Southampton Uni equalised soon after and then quickly made it 2-1. An end to end game saw no more goals in the first half. Despite playing poorly Andover knew they were still in the game and so nearly equalised at the beginning of the second half when Sally Prior just failed to get on the end of a cross in front of goal.
A poor few minutes from Andover saw them concede 2 quick goals before Louise Cuff made it 4-2 with a fierce strike from a short corner.
However Southampton were a confident side at this stage and scored another two goals without reply.
Andover Ladies 3rd XI 1 Havant Ladies 3a XI 6
Andover Ladies 3rd XI played their second game of the season against a very mature experience Havant side. Andover did not seem overawed by the opposition but they did lack a little composure when they entered the visitors “D”. On paper they had more chances than Havant in the first half but they were unable to convert any of them while the opposition were very proficient and ended their moves well.
Andover suffered a major setback when their skipper, Sarah Rose, suffered what appeared to be a horrific injury when she was hit in the face by a Havant stick following a pass. Play was stopped for about 15 minutes while she received attention and left the pitch to recover. Luckily there was no serious damage to Sarah but she did not join the game again as a precaution and she could be heard encouraging her young side to give all they had and not let their heads drop.
Eventually Havant ran out 6:1 winners but the score line did not reflect how well the young Andover side gritted their teeth and got down to the task in hand. They have got something to be proud of and also to look forward to in their future fixtures. They are not a team to be taken lightly.
Camberley & Farnborough 3 Andover 2
The new season started with ambitions and excitement running high in the Andover Men’s 1st team. A new season, some new players and new league to play in meant that nerves were running high in the first game of the season. The game began with both teams very cagey and lots of opening mistakes, a missed chance by Jack Trott summarised the nerves that were felt. The game then began to pick up pace and standard and after some fine interplay from the Andover midfield Max Romer-Lee shot into the D to eventually slot past the keeper after a goal line scrabble.
Camberley fought back into the game with two quick short corners, Sam Toth was unlucky not to get to the shots and Camberley found themselves 2-1 up going into the half time break. Andover rallied during half time and came out seeking to win the game. The whole team picked up their performance and Camberley found themselves on the back foot for the majority of the second half. Some missed chances from Andover’s short corners meant that going into the last 15 minutes it was still 2-1 to Camberley. James Pawley then launched another attack into the Camberley half, a fine aerial flew over the top of the defence, bouncing into the D; Max Romar Lee then ran into the D, superbly knocked the ball around the keeper and slotted from an ever decreasing angle to score what could be the ‘Goal of the season’.
A missed foul in the Camberley half led to a quick break while the Andover team were setting up for the free hit, led to Camberley scoring and taking the game to 3-2. A last minute short corner was given to Andover after some high tempo pressure. Once again Andover were unlucky to not get another short corner after the Camberley defence seemingly kicked the ball out of the D to end the game.
A lot of positives for the Andover team to take from this into their first home game this weekend against previous seasons rivals Haslemere.
Andover 2nd XI 2 Bournemouth 3rd XI 3
Andover Mens 2nd XI played their first home game of the season on Saturday following their promotion. It was one of those games were the relative young Andover side took on a Bournemouth side who had been around for quite a time and had the experience and skill to counter the home side’s enthusiasm.
Andover in the first half were always just off the pace and making silly mistakes which the mature Bournemouth side capitalised on and they went into half time with a comfortable lead.
But the second half was a slightly different affair and Andover found some inner strength and they took the gamer to the visitors, scoring goals which made them look differently at Andover.
The final score was 3:2 to the visitors and now Andover 2nd XI have to draw from their experiences of the weekend and make sure that the future sees them go from strength to strength.
Basingstoke 4th XI 6 Andover 3rd XI 2
A young Andover 3rd’s team started the season with an away trip to Basingstoke. They took the lead midway into the first half with a well worked move leading to Matt Bowry scoring. However with 11 outfield players and no goalie they were always up against it and as a result Basingstoke hit back with a quick fire double. The home team scored twice more after the break before Andover hit back as a short corner was deflected into the goal by Basingstoke. However there was to be no come back, and the home team scored two more goals before the end of the game. Man of the match was Liam Kavannagh.
Bournemouth Vets 0 Andover Diamonds 5
Andover Diamonds started their league season as they mean to go on, giving a clear signal to the rest of the teams in Wessex Masters League Division II.
For the second week in a row, the Diamonds travelled with the bare eleven men, but it took them only one minute to put their first goal past the staggered Bournemouth defence. Skipper, Glyn Hacker, picked up a rebound off his own short corner shot, and coolly flicked it over the diving ‘keeper into the top right corner of the net.
Andover continued to put the Bournemouth defence under pressure and they could not get the ball up to their forwards. Twelve minutes into the game, Richard Romer-Lee found man of the match Richard Hoo on the left, who made no mistake to put Diamonds two-nil up at half time.
The wingers were often brought into play as Diamonds mounted attack after attack in the second half. Hoo, once again capitalized on a cross from Gary Holmes on the right wing to make it three-nil. Two minutes later, Hoo was in great position to put a short, square pass into the net for his hat-trick.
Andover Diamonds’ victory was assured as Mitchell neatly deflected a Collins hit into the D towards Romer-Lee, who finished ruthlessly.
Bournemouth manage two or three attacks of their own in the last ten minutes of the game, finally winning themselves a penalty corner. The shot was good and was heading for the bottom left corner. Peter Lawrence did his job on the post to keep a clean sheet for the visitors.
The next league fixture for Andover Diamonds is at home this Saturday against Newbury and Thatcham Men’s Vets.
Andover U18 Girls 2 Romsey U18 Girls 1
Andover played their first U18 match of the season on a warm Sunday afternoon. Andover started brightly and were soon attacking the Romsey goal.
The midfield of Sarah and Kate Wiseman, Katy Evans and Immy Collins were soon passing the ball around with confidence. It wasn’t long until Andover earned a short corner and after an initial strike from Hannah Allmark, Sarah Wiseman coolly collected the ball, rounded the keeper and scored.
Sophia Kidd, Charlotte King and Vicki Fettes were playing well as a forward unit and cleverly interlinking to create numerous chances. Just before half time an incisive ball from Sarah Wiseman found Sophia Kidd who scored her first goal of the season. The second half was evenly matched and Romsey created many chances of their own. It was down to good goalkeeping by Karman Norman and the defence of Alice Goodridge, Emma Evans and Hannah Allmark continually tackling and thwarting the Romsey forwards until the last minute when Romsey scored a good goal with a well taken reverse stick shot. The final score finishing 2-1 to Andover.
Andover U16 Girls 1 Bournemouth U16 Girls 2
Last week Andover U16s travelled to Bournemouth for the first match of the season. With only eight players available they had to borrow three players from the Bournemouth side. Despite playing a very organized team, Andover’s scratch team were a match for the home team with both teams creating chances and defending well. Bournemouth Opened the scoring with a strong shot from the top of the D which was deflected off the goal keepers pads. Despite this Andover continued to press forward and eventually got an equalizing goal.
The second half saw the goalkeeper and defence playing exceptionally well with Karman Norman, the new goalkeeper, making several exceptional saves. It was only a well taken reverse stick shot which finally have the home team the winning goal.
This proved to be a very promising first match with several players having strong games.
