Andover comfortably went through to the second round of the Hampshire Senior Cup, beating a poor New Milton side 5-0.

Two first half goals from Liam Gilbert and a goal apiece for Lewis Benson, Oliver Yates and Sam Pekun helped Town to an easy victory on a wet Tuesday night at The Portway Stadium.

Town manager Neil Benson named a strong side to face The Linnets, who are sitting 33 league positions below them in the Sydenhams Wessex League Division 1.

With goalkeeper Jamie Bray out with a calf injury, Michael Weatherall made his first start of the new season for the club, with Connor Cocklin also returning to the starting team.

As Sam Pekun continued his record of starting every game this season, young talent Tommy Wright returned to starting line-up, having spent most of last season playing for Otterbourne on dual registration.

New Milton named a similar team to the one that drew with Hythe and Dibden, with the only change being midfielder James Shering, who was removed from the match day squad and replaced by Robert Woolner.

Andover were dominant early on and were almost rewarded for their efforts when a corner from Oliver Yates went to Sam Pekun, whose header was cleared off the line by the New Milton defence, prompting loud appeals from the Andover players.

Andover continued to press and it wasn't long before they got their reward as Liam Gilbert’s low driven freekick went past the poorly organised wall and into the bottom corner.

It took just a minute for Town to score again as Yates’ run to the goalline ended with his impossibly angled shot deflecting off Ross Drew into the top corner to put Andover in control.

Andover scored their third of the night shortly after the half hour mark through a bit of magic from Gilbert, whose long shot flew through the defence and into the top right corner, giving the keeper no chance.

New Milton tried to tighten up in the second half, bringing on Josh Curtis-Hicks and Taylor Leonard in place of Ross Drew and Bryce Banfield.

The move certainly improved New Milton in the second half but didn’t stop Andover from creating the best chances.

Clever play between Connor Cocklin and Tommy Wright ended with Wright forcing a brilliant acrobatic save from keeper Tom Rees, who dived full length to fingertip the ball from the top corner.

Town increased their lead again 30 minutes in to the second half as an Andover corner from substitute Lewis Benson curled onto the crossbar, deflecting the ball onto the unsuspecting New Milton goalkeeper’s hands and into his own net, although the goal was awarded to Benson.

After having a Craig Blakeman goal denied for offside, Andover scored in the dying minutes of the game through neat play between Benson and Pekun.

The pair combined with some slick passing in the penalty area leaving Pekun to simply tap the ball into the bottom right corner for a much deserved goal.

Andover will now go through to the second round of the Hampshire Senior Cup, where they face Totton and Eling at Millers Park.