ANDOVER’S hopes of taking the London South West Three title were dealt a mortal blow away at Eastleigh last Saturday as a back to strength home side ended their run of poor form and showed just why they have been a top side in this league most of the season.

Andover went into the game needing a win to hold off the challenge of chasing London Exiles, but in the end it was a bridge too far and they now need to beat Old Midwhitgiftian at home in their final game and hope New Milton can do them an unlikely favour at Exiles to lift the title.

The Oakwood sponsored ‘All Blacks’ side, sporting several changes, only had themselves to blame as a slow start again came back to haunt them.

They failed to deal with the ‘Pirates’ early onslaught and despite a stirring second half comeback could not overcome a determined rearguard and force the essential victory.

Before the game Andover were rocked by the late withdrawals of Sam Froggett and Niko Rowe in midfield and with Alex Kane and back rowers Marc Wilding and Ash Gait also unavailable, Eastleigh took full advantage of the early disruption with a simple try.

Andover rallied and started to establish some control up front, but too often chose wrong options in possession to waste good attacking opportunities.

They became increasingly frustrated as a string of Eastleigh penalties went unpunished with a yellow card and this was compounded further when just before the break, young full back Charlie Waite was harshly sin-binned.

Eastleigh sensed blood and from the resulting lineout a backs move saw them grab a second neat try. At 10-0 however and wind at their back Andover still felt very much in the game but just after the break disaster struck.

A lack of concentration in defence allowed a simple score and it was suddenly all uphill.

Waite was restored to action and after brother Tom and Nic Reed won a penalty he gave Andover their first points of the day.

At last the referee went to his pocket and as Eastleigh tried to regroup Andover immediately turned the screw.

A series of short scrums got them close before Simon Preece dived over for a score converted by Charlie Waite.

Then came a moment of controversy which finally put the game to bed.

The Eastleigh number eight made a great break, but was clearly bundled into touch before grounding the ball. With the touch judge just inches away however, the score was still allowed and amid a storm of protest the conversion was crucially made.

Andover roared back and with Alex Morgan, Billy Pollard, Tom Erskine and Alex Hibdige in fine form, applied relentless pressure but once again though a series of penalties, including a cynical tap down, attracted no yellow card as Eastleigh clung on.

The Andover pack piled on the pressure and with seven minutes to go were awarded a penalty try when in the process of pushing over from fully 20 yards out.

Waite converted again and there was just a score in it.

As the clock wound down however, the excellent Eastleigh stand-off pinned Andover back time and again and it was fitting that with his last kick, he booted the ball into touch to claim a famous victory.

Coach Andy Waite said: “We gave it everything, but in the end the league is not won or lost in one game.

"Over the season we have been exceptional and have achieved more than we could have hoped for.

"The spirit we showed today in a difficult away game epitomises what we are about, but ultimately Eastleigh played very well for the first 50 minutes and we just couldn’t get back.

"We are down in one respect, but in the end very proud of how far we’ve come in the past three seasons.”