ANDOVER Town made sure of second spot in the Wessex League Premier after a seven goal thriller at Portway

The home side only needed a point from the game with Fareham Town in their last home league outing, but instead collected all three after winning 4-3.

This game saw some changes to the recent starting line-ups with Reece Rusher in on the opposing wing to Michael Gosney and Connor Cocklin back with Adam Costello on the bench.

Very early on Rusher demonstrated that his inclusion was a good choice as he only just missed a chance in the first minute from a flick on by Zach Glasspool.

This was to be first of many opportunities involving Rusher, most of which were to be of his making.

Only minutes later Gosney was in a position to chip the ball over Fareham’s Luke Douglas. only to be denied Andover’s first goal by a late clearance by Shawn Benjamin.

Shortly afterwards Gosney placed a cross in for Glasspool who only had Douglas to beat. Fans in the stand stood to celebrate, but prematurely, as the ball headed directly towards the Fareham goalkeeper.

Fareham made a few chances early in the first half too. The first resulted in Curt Robbins putting the ball wide as the home side defence narrowed his options and the second won them a free kick just outside the penalty area. Ethan Jones could only hit the Andover wall and the rebound found Jay Eames whose shot cleared the crossbar.

In the 15th minute Rusher was fouled in the penalty area after he received a cross from Gosney.

The penalty was awarded, and Immanuel Soetan stood up to take. Andover’s recent penalty statistics have not been good so no-one considered the goal to be a certainty.

However, Soetan made no mistake with a mid height shot which left Douglas going in the opposite direction.

Before the celebrations had barely finished Soetan made a sole run and passed across to Rusher in front of goal who was unable to make a shot, but Glasspool was well positioned as usual and this time managed to turn and launch the ball into the back of the net.

At this time all was looking good for a comfortable win. The Andover defence were coping admirably with the challenges they were facing.

Cocklin was called upon to make one clearance off the line and shortly afterwards found himself preventing another good attempt by Matt Simm.

Cocklin was in the thick of the action again when a nifty one-two with Rusher enabled him to pass a long ball across to Gosney, who majestically launched the ball over Douglas’s head for Andover’s third.

However the last third of the first half was not good for the home side.

They appeared to lack the concentration needed to keep hold of the advantage and within a matter of only a few minutes Fareham had pulled two goals back.

The first came from Matt Andrews and the second from Mat Simm. Both were very good, but the second left Luke Cairney with no chance of a save and made the home fans wonder why Fareham hadn’t ended higher in the league.

Before the first half ended Andover created two more chances which called upon Douglas to act. A header from Glasspool which just did not have enough force to prevent the save and a shot by Michael Hubbard which was put wide for a corner.

There was a very quiet start to the second half. The first home side opportunity came when Gosney won the ball from a Fareham defender who appeared to be over complicating a clearance. Gosney crossed the ball to Glasspool who wasn’t able to get a shot on target.

Shortly afterwards a crafty pass from Hubbard to Soetan found the Andover forwards three abreast with little challenge from any defenders.

Soetan had the opportunity to pass, but was in a good position himself so took the shot with only Douglas to beat.

Once again the Fareham goalkeeper was well placed and he put the shot wide for a corner.

The resultant corner ended with Rusher having a shot which would have been put away if it had been in pre-match warm-up. In the turmoil of play it proved to be a little more difficult.

Fareham continued to strive for points out of the game. Benjamin, having denied Andover a goal in the first half, had an attempt of his own.

His header went over the crossbar and his frustration was apparent. The away side nearly made the score even again when a miss kick and slip gave Andover time to clear the ball.

Rusher continued to run unremittingly and used his undeniable speed to leave defenders standing. In most cases his runs resulted in a cross to the penalty area and on one occasion the ball found Gosney whose shot was so forceful the miss went over the cross bar and clattered the grounds perimeter fencing.

In the 74th minute it looked like Fareham had managed their equaliser. A cross by Hayato Yokata found the head of Andrews and it was in the back of the net, but it was offside.

Soon after Gosney left a ball for Rusher to chase down the wing.

He seemed to have set up the perfect solo goal but between the post and Douglas he was denied the result deserved for his efforts.

But only a minute later a Rusher cross into Hubbard was proved more successful as Hubbard found the inside of the top of the net.

Rusher was replaced at this time by McAulie Stubbs as it appeared Andover were happy to defend this two goal advantage.

However, Fareham had other ideas and before the game had settled down from the previous goal Andrews managed to score from an unbelievably acute angle.

Before the final whistle Andover had a couple more attempts to increase the margin. Soetan, Glasspool and Ben Cook all had equally good chances but the score remained the same.

The game could be described as ‘job done’ as only one point was needed, but the match was not without its tentative moments.

However, congratulations must be forwarded to the squad as their attacking play has provided some truly exciting games throughout the season.

Andover travel to Amesbury on Tuesday night