Oakwood sponsored Andover hosted KCS Old Boys at the Goodship Ground on Saturday in a tense, but fascinating league encounter.

Hoping to build on the progress made during the past fortnight, injuries to Craig Mumby and Neil Posthumus in training and the continued absence of Chris Collins meant the recall of Lester Culley and Jim Wallace. Preparation was then thrown even more into chaos as Williame Masirewa and Jale Wainiqolo became no shows.

Luckily, Alec McNair and Dan Pearson were waiting in the wings to become most able substitutes and steady the rudder of a creaking ship.

KCS fielded their own kick-off and drove hard and it was one way traffic as Andover held on for parity until Sam Froggett, playing his first full game for a month, intercepted a try scoring pass and raced the length of the field for a seven point reversal. Marc Wilding added the extras from the tightest of angles and somehow Andover had grabbed a healthy lead.

KCS once again came back hard and at the heart of the Andover defence but they never quite managed to get over the try line due in no small part to the concerted defensive effort of the All Blacks.

At the half hour mark Andover finally established some territory and started to creep into the KCS half. The visitors were able to show their defensive skills, but the home team curse returned, as they were hit by three serious injuries to key players in a ten minute spell. First, dynamic flanker Alex Morgan hobbled off, swiftly followed by flanker Lee Cowley with suspected broken ribs and finally skipper and hooker Ade Furniss with a twisted knee.

This was a massive hammer blow, but it saw the introduction of Jack White, Dan Pearson and Alec McNair. Nevertheless, Andover were glad to hear the half-time whistle, no more so than Jim Wallace who had been forced to move up to the front row until the inclusion of McNair. It did however give the team the chance to regroup and look inwards for inspiration.

Playing with the slope on their side, Andover continued to kick to the corners and harried their opposition at every opportunity. Wilding missed a couple of penalty attempts which he would normally convert but the hosts were not to be held back and they continually pressed the opposition.

Andover finally found their way over the line when Froggett ran off Reilly's shoulder, danced around two defenders and plonked the ball straight under the posts. Wilding added the easy extras and suddenly there was some breathing space. The hosts failed to convert pressure into points and with two minutes to go KCS hit back to within a score. Unfortunately they had left it too late and the referee called time with Andover deep in their opponents' half.

Afterwards, Andover coach Marc Wilding said: "I'm extremely grateful to play with these guys. We may not have the resources of some of our opponents, but we have heart and the fact that we are all good friends speaks volumes. Every man who puts on that Andover shirt does so because he really wants to, that's very important to me."

Tries: Froggett (2) Con: Wilding (2)