Andover Lions 1 Infinity 2.

Andover Lions slipped to their first home defeat of the season in a match that was as typically robust as others between the Hampshire League rivals.

They had hoped to leapfrog their Southampton-based opponents but instead found themselves dropping to fourth as Lyndhurst went past them having beaten Four Marks. With just six games left Ray Cozze’s side now need maximum points to have any chance of promotion.

Infinity were the only team to have beaten Lions in the league and their greater urgency paid dividends as for once the Lions were out battled in several key areas.

Gradually they came back into the game and Brad Craney’s shot was deflected over then Danny Lewis and Casson Spencer went close.

On 20 minutes they paid the penalty for not converting their chances when the impressive Ryan Elliott found space from a Steve Allen corner and headed in from close range.

Spencer had a chance to equalise after a Lewis free- kick was helped on by John Robb but again the Infinity defenders denied the home team.

Lions started the second half in a similar manner to most games by pinning their opponents back for long periods but Infinity packed their defence and just past the hour fell further behind as Elliott hit them on the break. Hardworking Spencer then burst clear and finished crisply from 18 yards but as hard as they tried for the last 20 minutes they were unable to breach a determined defence and Infinity took a crucial victory.

After the match Cozze and Chris Paris were both very disappointed with the outcome and rued their inability to convert their chances.

“There is no doubt that Infinity are a very committed side and they don’t make it comfortable to play against them but that is something that we have to deal with and today we didn’t.

‘We had three or four half chances and if we had converted just one of them then we would have got something out of it. It’s going to be very difficult now, we need to get maximum points from now on to give ourselves a chance” said Paris.

On Saturday they are home to Broughton, at London Road as Charlton is unavailable. Kick-off is 3pm.