Andover 4 Gosport Borough 1.

ANDOVER climbed into the top half of the Hampshire League One table as two goals each from captain Jamie Hacker and Will Turner guided the home side to their third win in four games as they jumped to sixth.

The town side weren’t at their best but put in a ‘professional’ performance to ensure their fine run of results in 2014 continued.

Hacker said: “It was a frustrating game in places. We played some nice hockey but didn’t ever quite hit the level we know we can – but still did more than enough to deserve the points.

“It is great to have broken into the top half and we definitely deserve to be there and we will be working very hard to make sure that we are still there at the season’s end.”

Andover began brightly, heaped early pressure onto the Gosport back line and soon took the lead when Hacker worked his way powerfully into the area before firing hard into the far corner.

The lead was soon doubled when Turner took the ball and swivelled past the keeper before rolling the ball home but Gosport halved the deficit before the break.

Andover gained control in the second half when Hacker redeemed his penalty stroke failure against Haslemere last week to finish with aplomb and restore Andover’s two-goal lead.

Shortly before full-time Hacker turned provider when his cross was deflected into the corner by Turner to complete the scoring and seal the win.

 

Full page of hockey in Friday's Advertiser