Champions again

IN a heart-stopping, nerve-jangling and emotional finale to the JWL season Andover gained the draw they need in the title decider at a packed Calthorpe Park last Saturday to become league champions - yet again!

Another monumental league campaign ended in joyous celebrations for club owner Ken Cunningham Brown, his trusty right-hand man Mike Burford and their gutsy Lions, who have run themselves into the ground in a 70-game marathon this season.

Not many managers in the non-league game can boast that with four games left to play they were in the running for four trophies. Watched by a crowd of 623 - a JWL league record - the Lions cleared the first hurdle at Fleet and still have three cup finals to play, including another meeting with Fleet in the final of the League Cup at Gosport Borough's Privett Park next Monday (3pm).

Neither side deserved to lose in a thrill-a-minute final league game of the season and the point Fleet gained was enough for them to finish runners-up and also gain promotion to the Dr Marten's League.

Andover's future is still undecided and hangs in the balance with KCB and Burford both stepping down at the end of the season but the town club will be aiming to end their 112th season feted in silverware.

Lions skipper Danny Barker - the supporters' player-of-the-year - received the trophy from league secretary Tom Lindon after the game and the final whistle came as one of relief after brilliant rearguard display stifled a classy Fleet side that just a fortnight ago had savaged the Lions 5-3 at The Portway.

Andover led for over an hour with Dave Asker having put them in the box seat with a 12th minute opener for his 22nd goal of the season only for Fleet to level with 10 minutes left through their most influential player Alan Carey.

KCB drafted in former Saints striker Nicky Banger following his signing last week and also had Andy Forbes returning to play in midfield after a three weeks' absence with a thigh injury but it was in defence where the Lions were at their best.

Kieron Drake had a point or two to make in the Andover goal but the 'keeper coped superbly with Fleet's aerial assault while the calm authority of skipper Barker and controlled aggression of the returning Glen Damen in the heart of the defence was monumental.

Full-backs Allan Kennedy and Matt Bicknell were at times severely tested in defence but both played their part in keeping Fleet at bay and the Lions back four was backed by the midfield pairing of Forbes and Lloyd Webber.

Banger, who famously scored a hat-trick on his Saints debut a decade ago, added mobility to the Lions attack but he and Vince Rusher were often left isolated up front, despite the lung-bursting supporting runs from Webber and Asker in support through the middle, and it was left to Shaun Dyke to provide the width on the right but with two markers on him throughout he had little chance to make an impact However, the Lions' competitive spirit shone through, none more so than Damen, who clearly would have been in the running for player-of-the-year had he not most of the second-half of the season with a niggling groin injury.

He did a marvellous job on restricting the aerial threat of Fleet danger man Ian Mancey on the sloping pitch and the Lions must have been delighted to have gone in at half time with a 1-0 lead.

It was end-to-end stuff in the first half with the Lions gaining the all-important breakthrough after 12 minutes when a stumbling Rusher managed to prod the ball on for Asker on the overlap and he coolly side-footed under giant 'keeper Adrian Creamer to find the far corner of the net.

The Lions had the better of the opening quarter of an hour but they were then forced back in numbers, with Fleet having more of the ball in midfield, and the home side had two glorious chances to level before the break.

Both came from the clever Carey with him nodding the first wide of an empty goal when it seemed easier to score than miss after 17 minutes after Drake's clearance kick had ballooned off Mancey as he and Carey closed the 'keeper down in the area.

Andover's large following were again sighing with relief just before the break when Fleet player-manager Steve Beeks, one of a number of ex-Basingstoke players in both sides, sent Carey gliding into the box with only Drake to beat but man-of-the-match Damen got back and did enough to force the home player to put his shot outside the right-hand post.

Fleet were always a threat from deadball situations and Damen had already once come to the Lions' rescue when he was forced to head the ball over his own crossbar after Kennedy had been caught in possession just outside the Andover area.

Asker however had a golden chance to make it 2-0 after bursting into the box to collect the ball from Banger's intelligent cross from the left just before half time but the in-form flyer got it all wrong this time as he put a fiercely struck volley over the crossbar.

Andover had to survive another telling Fleet effort before the break with Drake, despite seeing the ball late, holding on well in a packed goalmouth from home striker Mark Frampton's powerful drive.

There was a booking for Forbes early in the second half but Banger twice found space in front of goal to meet stunning Rusher crosses from the right but the former Saints was wide of the target from the first and then just failed to connect with the second - it's doubtful whether Forbes would have missed either!.

The tension increased as the game went into its final stages with Fleet forcing two corners on the trot but Drake was a commanding presence in goal and Fleet appeals for a penalty for handball by Barker were dismissed by Barton-on-Sea referee Martin Bloor.

Fleet defender Wayne Noads was booked after he kicked out at Rusher in frustration but Carey, playing just behind Fleet's big front two, was a bundle of energy when on the ball and he finally made amends for his two misses in the first half with the Fleet equaliser in the 80th minute. He got a large slice of luck when, following a corner, Barker stabbed the ball clear only for it to strike Webber on the back of the legs as he ran out of the area and it rebounded back into the box and into the path of the unmarked Carey who gleefully gave Drake no chance with a low shot into the right-hand corner of the Andover goal.

Carey put another effort narrowly wide and Drake excelled with another crucial save at the feet of the advancing Kevin Ross on the right in the dying moments of norma time, and in time added on the 'keeper again claimed the ball in a packed goalmouth after Fleet had floated a free kick to the back post.

It was relief all round at the final whistle with the Lions finishing deserved champions after another memorable season in which they finished with a record of played 44, won 30, drew 6 and lost 8, and scored 138 goals and conceded 53.

What pleased a delighted KCB was the way his side defended.. "They had to go for it but we stuck to our guns and got the point we needed," he said. "It was very tense at the finish but overall I thought we were deserved champions. We've only had a small squad but have played 70 games this season, and to become champions again is a magnificent feat.

"Another thing that pleased me was that it was not only a great game but that both sides got something out of the game with us winning the title and them winning promotion to the Southern League. I thought that they would have to come at us and we planned accordingly. It was all very emotional after the game.

"It's been hard work and I can't praise the players enough for what they've achieved, with them having to play so many games in recent weeks, it's amazing how they've kept going like they have."

Andover (4-4-2): Drake; Kennedy, Barker, Damen, Bicknell; Asker, Webber, Forbes, Dyke; Banger, Rusher. Subs: Crossley, Freeman, Simpson (not used).