Andover 6 Havant III 3.

ANDOVER staged a dramatic comeback to claim a vital win over Havant at John Hanson School.

The town side found themselves 3-0 down inside the first half an hour but fought their way back with goals from Jamie Hacker, Dan Allen and Will Turner.

Captain Jamie Hacker said: “I was proud of the way we turned the entire match round. It really didn’t look likely at 3-0 down and we really produced something special.

“When the third goal went in we got our heads together and it seemed to focus us and we never looked back.

“There have been games where we have left with nothing when we deserved something and on this occasion we got exactly what we deserved for battling with such determination.”

The opening exchanges were evenly contested but Havant were first to find the net and Andover heads lost their focus. Havant ran in two more goals to leave Andover reeling but after gathering before the restart the home side came out fighting.

Two goals from two penalty corners from Hacker before the break gave Andover belief going into the second half.

Momentum was on their side and Andover powered forward with great determination and were rewarded when Allen flicked home a rebound from close to range to level.

Andover went for the kill and eventually took the lead when Hacker again finished from a penalty corner.

The away side found their feet after this but Andover sat deeper and their dogged approach kept their lead before Hacker struck again to give his side some breathing space.

With minutes remaining the ball broke to Turner on half way who carried the ball to the area before returning passes with Will Osmond and firing home.

Andover travel to high flying Winchester tomorrow.

Full page from Andover Hockey with pictures in this Friday's Advertiser