Andover New Street 2 Fleet Spurs 1.

New Street gained a vital three points with a victory over fellow league strugglers Fleet Spurs at a windy Foxcotte Park on Saturday though any fireworks on the day were exclusively on show at the display later in the evening writes John Gorman.

Street were down to a bare 12 players through illness and unavailability with manager Matt Styles amongt the absentees as he ran the New York Marathon over the weekend.

With both sides starting the day in the bottom four in the table it was never going to be a classic and despite plenty of endeavour from both sides, the first half was played out almost entirely in midfield with both goalkeepers largely untroubled and neither side looking likely to break the deadlock or cope entirely with the elements.

Street were forced into a change at the break with Josh Hammett suffering an injury in the first half and U18 goalkeeper Tom Crozier, the only substitute available, came on to form an unlikely partnership with Prince Xhamela up front.

The second half continued in the same vein as the first, considerable energy and effort but no real goal threat, until just past the hour when visiting keeper Jordan Westbrook got his hands to a drive from Xhamela only to see ball squeeze over the line to give the home side the lead.

Spurred by this and led by the non-stop energy of Lewis Alderman in midfield, the home side pressed forward and doubled their advantage inside ten minutes.

Again Xhamela was the scorer, the burly striker shrugging off two challenges before comfortably beating Westwood.

With the wind against them and a two goal advantage Street opted to sit on their lead and the defence, well marshalled by Brad Stead and with an impressive display from Jake Smith at left back, held out until the dying minutes when Fleet netted in a goalmouth scramble but it was too little, too late for the visitors and Street held on to claim the victory.

Given the struggle to field a side and the difficult conditions – though admittedly they were the same for both sides - this was a welcome win for the home side and the three points gained makes for slightly more comfortable reading as regards the league table.