Andover 4, Bemerton 1

BEMERTON boss Steve Slade must be sick of the sight of Andover after his side was turned over for the second time in a week by a slick CFL sponsored town side in the JWL at The Portway last Saturday.

Ken Cunningham Brown's JWL champions were playing only their second game at home in the league since the beginning of September but made a more than useful Bemerton side look very ordinary with two goals in each half from Andy Forbes, Dave Asker, Matt Bicknell (pen) and Lloyd Webber.

Having completed an 8-2 aggregate win over the Wiltshire side in the JWL Cup earlier in the week, Bemerton adopted a much more cautious approach and managed to keep the Lions at bay for 20 minutes. But once ahead the result never really looked in doubt as the Lions turned on the style.

Admittedly, Bemerton were unlucky to lose key defender Daren Lush through injury and Keiron Drake's strong right hand denied them the lead against the run of play before the Lions went ahead with two fantastic goals in the space of six minutes - and Bemerton never really recovered.

The first on 21 minutes was a real knockout blow with Danny Mattingley, who probably had his best 45 minutes in an Andover shirt in the first half when replacing the unavailable Vince Rusher up front, and Asker producing a superb one-two passing movement on the right ended with Forbes rifling home without changing stride from Asker's resulting early cross to find the back of the net for the eighth game on the trot.

Five minutes later the excellent Asker, who never stopped running despite coming in for some heavy treatment dished out by visiting defender Adam Nash, spotted gap in the heart of the Bemerton defence and tore through it before racing on to give the Lions a comfortable 2-0 half-time lead.

In the second half the Lions wrapped up the points with another two excellent goals and might easily have had another four or five before the end such was their dominance.

Bicknell made it 3-0 from the penalty spot after the awesome Webber was sent tumbling in the box with just over an hour gone and the full-back did much better with his spot kick than Shaun Dyke did with Andover's last as he sent Bemerton 'keeper Mike Hookaway the wrong way before coolly rolling the ball into the opposite corner of the net on 63 minutes.

The Lions as is their wont then gifted Bemerton a consolation goal less than a minute later following a mix-up between Drake and full-back Paul Freeman after the ball ran loose in the box. They both left it to each other and Bemerton's wily veteran Ian Chalk showed that he still has an eye for an opening with the former Salisbury ace whipping the ball low into the opposite corner past a stranded Drake.

Andover however took only another five minutes to restore their three-goal advantage with Webber rifling home from Mattingley's clever pull-back from the left.

The Lions might easily have increased their total in the goals for column before the end but Hookaway saved what looked three certain goals, and Glen Damen also powered another effort against an upright following a string of corners as Andover toyed with Bemrton in the closing stages.

Andover still have a lot of ground to make up with them currently lying mid-table in the JWL but with so many games in hand it would be foolish not to bet against them from retaining the title again this season, especially after this showing.

KCB was delighted with his side's performance. "We're back to being close to our best," he said. "We have four or five who were really playing well and I think the players have now got the disappointment of not being promoted out of their system, we're playing like we were last season and just want to keep on winning."

Andover (4-4-2): Drake; Freeman, Barker (capt), Damen, Bicknell; Asker, Webber, Walsh, Dyke; Mattingley, Forbes. Subs: Crossley (for Damen 79 mins), Kennedy (for Freeman 79 mins).