THE rain proved to be Andover New Street's undoing as they crashed to a 3-0 against Christchurch, writes TIM BATES.

New Street got off to a bad start, as after five minutes, they conceded a free kick deep inside their own half. A deflection from the set piece allowed Christchurch's Josh Kirkham, to fire home and give the visitors an early lead.

Just five minutes later, the away side could have extended the lead when they hit the cross bar with a powerful header.

Half-time could not have come quickly enough for the home side as Christchruch were having the lions share of the possession.

Much like their previous performances, the second half painted a different picture for the hosts.

New Street applied tremendous pressure on the visitors with an ‘all -out attack’ mindset in the second period.

Every single player wearing the black and green jersey was fired up and it showed.

However, despite this fighting spirit, it simply wasn’t enough to break down the rock solid Christchurch defence.

With 15 minutes left to play, a sweeping move down the left flank led to James King finishing the move off for Christchurch, beating New Street’s goalkeeper George Baxter with relative ease. Not long after this Christchurch's Max Wilcock, who was outstanding all afternoon, scored a decisive individual goal.

The striker turned inside the box, struck the ball low and hard with his right foot, giving Baxter no chance.

Christchurch were far too much for a soggy New Street side.

There was added misery for New Street in the midweek fixture on the road against Lymington Town in the Russell Coates Cup.

The home side managed to ship seven goals past John Smith's men as they were comprehensively knocked out of the competition.

New Street are on the road again in league action tomorrow, when they travel to Fareham Town.