Andover Lions moved off the bottom of the Hampshire League table on Saturday when they came out on top of the basement battle with Michelmersh and Timsbury.

With both teams without a point between them this year, the match never had the hallmark of a classic prior to kick-off but Lions turned in a disciplined and confident display to grab all three points.

They were buoyed by their fine performance a week earlier against Infinity and on three minutes Nick Dadds cut in and smashed a shot in from 22 yards which left Ben Goble flat footed with its sheer pace.

Lions dominated the early stages and Ryan Steele was denied when a last ditch block deflected his goal bound shot over the bar.

Soon after they increased their lead after a fine move that finished in fortuitous style when Aaron Black’s left wing cross beat the keeper on his near post and flew into the net.

Darren Paris and Black again both went close but they did grab a third when Ben Morris cut in from the bye line and drove a cross in that was deflected into his own net by a desperate lunge by a visiting defender.

Michelmersh replied minutes later when Daryl Winter lashed in a spectacular effort on the volley from all of 30 yards and until half-time the visitors enjoyed the better moments.

However, there were no further goals and Lions were good value for their two goal advantage.

It was no surprise when Danny Lewis created the fourth goal when his freekick reached Steele who scored for the second week running, finishing powerfully from inside the six yard box just before the hour.

Dadds then went close with two terrific efforts from outside of the box and sub Jon Streeter hit the bar with his first touch before they rounded off the scoring with 12 minutes left when Steele picked himself up after being fouled in the box to slot home from the spot.

Chris Paris was more than happy after the final whistle. “It was important that we won for all sorts of reasons.

“We needed to make sure that we built on the performance from last week and we had to ensure that we leapfrogged Michelmersh instead of them pulling away from us.

“The lads deserved that, they have worked hard lately and have not had the best of luck – so for it to come right like this today wasn’t a surprise.

“Howard Goddard had to have a few words at half-time as we let ourselves down in the last 15 minutes of the first half, but they all listened and got back playing as a team.

“If we keep playing like that we will pick up a few more points and we now need to try and catch Upham.”