ANDOVER Town maintained their 10 point lead at the top of the Wessex League Premier Division as they beat visiting Cowes Sports 2-1.

All three goals were scored within the opening 15 minutes, as another large Portway crowd envisaged the prospect of an eventful afternoon.

However, few chances were created by either side during the rest of the first half and whilst Andover dominated the second period they rarely looked able to improve their goal difference.

Before the match got underway Andover were presented with the award as the Wessex League team of the month for October and Alan Mussell presented a memento to Alex Dockree to mark his achievement of making 150 appearances for the club.

After an early free-kick on the edge of the area came to nothing Andover scored the first goal in the ninth minute,when George Hallahan let fly with a 35-yard volley that left the Cowes goalkeeper statuesque.

The Cowes reply was immediate as hesitation in the Andover defence allowed Aiden Bryan to head home via the underside of the bar.

Two minutes later, Andover regained the lead as Mike Gosney’s corner was directed toward the near post and touched over the line by Zach Glasspool.

That was about as good as it got.

The approach work of Andover was always promising but when the chances came they were either too high or too wide.

The nearest either side came to scoring again was just before the break, but John McKie wasted the opportunity to get his side back into the game.

Three minutes after the restart McKie had another good chance, but Luke Cairney making his home debut narrowed the angle and made a great point blank save.

Unfortunately for the rest of the half the only time that a goal looked possible was when a Cowes defender intercepted a cross and was fortunate enough to concede a corner rather than an own goal.

The Andover faithful will not be too worried after the team’s below par performance but a repeat against a better side than Cowes could lose them valuable points.

On the positive side, Andover have now completed half their league fixtures and their total of 55 points, is four more than they collected in the whole of last season and their goal tally this far is just three short of last season’s total.

Andover are in action tomorrow night when Amesbury are the visitors in the Salisbury Hospitals Cup quarter-finals.