KCBs proud Lions do the double

WITH champagne corks poppin' like a 21-gun salute in celebration, Ken Cunningham Brown's proud Andover side completed the Jewson Wessex League (JWL) double at Privet Park in Gosport on Monday afternoon.

Already crowned league champions for the second year in succession, the Lions have now won five trohies in two season's after beating Fleet Town in the final of the League Cup with a goal from 'The Honeymonster' - striker Paul Odey - in his penultimate game for the town club.

The 32-year-old striker- one of five local players in the Andover squad - is bowing out of senior football at the end of the season after an illustrious career that has seen him score goals has every level he has played. "The knees can no longer cope so I'll be calling it a day at the end of the season," said Odey.

He will finish as the Lions third all-time scorer with at least 177 goals to his credit and will have cherished his latest effort with him scoring a cracker - rifling home on the turn from just inside the area six minutes before the break - on his 250th appearance for Andover.

Odey however was hoping to wear an Andover shirt one more time before he hangs up his boots, with the Lions seeking to end the season with another trophy on Wednesday night when they were due to take on JWL rivals Bournemouth at their Victoria Park Ground in the final of the Hants FA's benevolent trophy - the Russell-Cotes Cup.

The popular striker got the all-important goal but the Lions' star of the show was 'keeper Kieron Drake with him saving Andover on four occasions - including a second-half penalty - and it was another tense finish for the Lions with them once again ending a cup final with only 10 men on the pitch after winger Shaun Dyke was sent off 10 minutes from the end by Isle of Wight referee James Linington for a second bookable offence.

Whatever the future holds for the Lions they have had another glorious season in which they became only the third team to achieve the famed double in the JWL with Wimborne Town the only other club to win both league and cup with their sides recording the double in 1993-94 and again in 1999-00.

With a squad of just 17 players, the Lions have reached untold depths of both mental and physical strength to win both trophies in a 39-game marathon since the start of the year - an average of at least three games a week.

With the league crown safely locked up in the Andover trophy cabinet, Andover had the rare luxury of six days without a game before the latest final and KCB stuck to his tried and tested with Andy Forbes returning to the attack, with ex-Saint Nicky Banger unavailable, and Spencer Walsh was back to partner Lloyd Webber in the engine room.

The midfield pairing hurried and harried Fleet, who also finished runners-up to the Lions in the league, at every turn on a bumpy Gosport pitch with the idomitable Webber running miles for the Andover cause and Walsh making more tackles than anyone else on the pitch.

Both sides struggled to get their passing game together for much of the first half and the Lions were unlucky to lose Vince Rusher with a hamstring injury but the 13th minute substitution ultimately worked in their favour with Odey recapturing the kind of form that made him one of the most feared goal scorers in the non-league football in the South.

Clear cut chances were few but Fleet danger man Ian Mancey brought the best out of Drake with a low shot from outside the area that the 'keeper pushed away at full stretch while at the other end Forbes produced a trademark leap to send a header narrowly wide from a Dyke free kick.

The Lions looked more likely to score and Odey got in behind the Fleet defence but his cross was missed by friend and foe alike while Fleet's best riposte came when Mancey got away on the left only to fire harmlessly into the side netting.

Fleet twice finished winners on both their previous trips to Gosport this season while Andover had suffered one of their eight defeats and also a draw on their two visits, but they got the all-important breakthrough after a flurry of first-half bookings.

Dyke and Fleet defender Wayne Noad were lucky to escape with just yellow cards after they got involved in a private kicking match of their own and were followed by a further two in the space of a minute with Mancey cautioned for dissent and then Walsh for a late tackle.

The game needed a goal and it duly arrived when Dave Asker received the ball on the right and played it inside for the advancing Webber,who knocked it into the area where Odey showed his predatory instincts as he shot home on the turn into the top left-hand corner.

He might have had another when putting a header inches over the crossbar from Dyke's pin-point cross from the right on the stroke of half-time and in the seconds half was not far away with a first time effort that almost caught out Adrian Creamer in the Fleet goal.

Fleet were at their most menacing at the start of the second half but the Lions some how survived a 10-minute battering in which they conceded a spate of corners - and the penalty! It looked for an instant that defender Glen Damen could be on his way back to the dressing room for the second final in succession after he was penalised for pulling back Mancey but fortunately for the determined defender was shown the yellow card.

Drake, who has taken plenty of stick this season for his Teflon-like tendencies in goal, showed hurled himself forward to batter Mancey's 65th minute spot kick away with his right-arm and Alan Kennedy swooped to hammer the loose ball away to safety.

Fleet poured forward but the Andover 'keeper again broke their hearts 10 minutes later with another outstanding save on his line to keep out Mancey's goal bound downward header that had looked destined to finish in the back of the net.

There was another booking - the sixth of the match - when Fleet 'keeper Adrian Creamer charged from his line to complain about the awarding of a free kick as Andover threatened on the break.

The athletic Webber produced two mesmerising breaks with runs from one penalty area to the other only to be foiled by last-ditch tackles and Fleet's Rob Marshall did likewise late on only for the attacked-minded defender to put his shot wide after Asker got back to make a crucial challenge.

Dyke's dismissal after he picked up a second booking for kicking the ball away - slotting the ball into an empty net from outside the area - after the whistle had gone made for another anxious last 10 minutes that was almost a repeat of their title decider with Fleet in final league game of the season.

The Lions were almost out on their feet, such was the effort they had put in, but skipper Danny Barker and the rest of the side dug deep and managed to withstand Fleet's last-ditch attempt to save the game. Even the Fleet 'keeper joined the fray in the Andover area at a corner in stoppage time but the 10-man Lions were not to be denied and held out to take the trophy.

An emotional KCB said after the trophies had been awarded: "Every manager wants to do the double and we have achieved it with a great squad of players, we've built a brilliant relationship over the past couple of years, and we will be going up next season - but it won't be with Andover."

Andover (4-4-2): Drake; Kennedy, Barker, Damen, Bicknell; Asker, Webber, Walsh, Dyke; Rusher, Forbes. Subs: Odey (for Rusher 15 mins), Crossley, Freeman (not used).