Diamonds Stroll to victory (From Andover Advertiser)

Newbury next for sparkling Diamonds

12:00am Friday 8th February 2013 in Sport

Andover Diamonds 3 Salisbury Strollers 1 Andover Diamonds were keen to avenge the 1-0 defeat suffered at the hands of Salisbury Strollers earlier in the season. From the start, Andover passed the ball around and put the pressure on the visitors who hardly had a chance in the whole game. On the rare occasion that Strollers invaded the Diamonds' half, Peter Lawrence, Guy Pansczyk and man of the match Paul Collins held firm to ensure that goalkeeper Ian Burnham was rarely troubled. John Priestley-Cooper, Glyn Hacker, Rob West and skipper John Buckley controlled the midfield and supplied forwards Mark Barringer and Lance Mitchell with chances in the first 20 minutes. The pressure told, and Salisbury conceded two penalty corners. From the second, a goalmouth melee resulted and Buckley converted from close range. The second half started in the same way, but Salisbury somehow penetrated the defence and equalised. Once again, Andover stepped up the pace and it was not long before they retook the lead. West showed his skills as he dribbled along the goal line from the right and supplied a cross for Priestley-Cooper to score. Four minutes later, Mike Boyne charged into the opponents D, and smacked the ball goalwards. The 'keeper seemed to have it covered, but Mitchell nipped in to clip it just inside the post to give Diamonds an unassailable lead. Tomorrow Andover travel to Newbury for the much anticipated local derby.

Full page of hockey in Friday's Advertiser