PORTWAY Stadium is the place to be on Saturday for a charity match in aid of the Stoke Association.

It will also double up as a derby showdown between Andover's top two football sides Town and New Street and the action kicks off at 3pm.

Andover Town FC are alive and kicking, the club having had a challenging end to the last season, where promotion turned into relegation to the Wessex League Division One.

Club director Ian Carr said: "Our new team has been put through their paces in pre-season friendly games and have done very well against much more experienced sides.

"Andover Town FC coaches, are very much connected with Andover College, have put together a youthful, enthusiastic and skilful team from the local area, many of whom are current Andover College sports/football students.

"This is backed by the strong coaching team of Ron Bertie and Jason Holmes, the players are ready for competition in the Wessex League Division 1 this season.

Last Saturday, despite losing 4-2 to visiting Fareham Town, this was an encouraging performance by Andover Town’s new look side against a side who finished at Wessex Premier League’s top 10 last season.

Jake Watson’s early goal did much for Andover’s confidence, but Fareham equalised midway into the first half.

Five minutes later, Josh Burtie fired in a volley from forty yards that left the goalkeeper helpless.

Andover will need to tighten up at the back as a defensive lapse allowed Fareham to score their second equaliser just before half time.

During the second half, Andover created chances but on the day were unfortunately not able to convert these into goals.

Some of their approach work was excellent and deserved a greater reward.

Late in the match Fareham scored twice in the space of three minutes, but as is usually the case during pre season games the performance was more important than the result.