Alresford Town 1 Andover Town 3: A DOMINANT first-half display steered Andover to three points at a rain-drenched Arlebury Park despite a spirited second-half showing from beleaguered Alresford.

The Magpies tried a new central defensive pairing, Ben Dexter and Ben Stanbrook, and up front fielded Ollie Yates against the club with whom he started the season. Andover had two ex-Alresford players on show in defender Luke Dempsey and winger Danilo Cadete.

The visitors were the first to show, Luke Walker finding Cadete on the left. The speedy Cadete squared low for Charlie Gunson to hit the crossbar. But with four minutes on the clock, Cadete swept home the opener on the rebound after John Howard had beaten out a shot from Chris Onoufriou.

Walker fired over the bar and Stanbrook cleared a dangerous low Walker cross as Andover continued to have the upper hand. A second goal followed on 30 minutes. This time Sam Pekun’s shot was deflected to Walker, who nearly broke the back of the net with his finish.

The next chance fell to Gunson, who shot high and wide. Then, Alresford managed to drum up a spell of pressure on the visitors’ goal. But that backfired as Andover, lethal on the break, made it 3-0 on 38 minutes. Walker was again the scorer, striding clear of the home defence to dispatch a long ball forward beneath the diving Howard.

At half time Alresford brought on Ben Thomson, who used the ball well. The second half was much more even, with teasing dead-ball deliveries from Thomson and the experienced Brian Howard causing problems for the Andover back line.

On 50 minutes the Magpies dragged it back to 3-1. Howard’s precise free kick was knocked across goal by John Mulhern, and Dan Molyneaux, virtually on the goal line, bundled the ball home from close range.

A few minutes later Mulhern’s powerful header brought an acrobatic save from Jamie Bray as the hosts looked to turn up the gas. If that had gone in, perhaps Alresford might have salvaged something.

But Andover still had plenty of the ball with Cadete and Pekun a constant threat on the flanks. The Magpies were fortunate that Gunson, in particular, was wayward with his finishing.

Molyneaux’s shot skimmed off the crossbar, while Howard and Thomson, both had shots cleared off the line as Alresford tried to reduce the arrears. But Andover held out to cement their top six position while Alresford remain second from bottom of the table.