SAT NOV 2: AFC STONEHAM 4 ANDOVER NEW STREET 1

AFC Stoneham vs Andover New Street match report:

By Cameron Donaldson

Stoneham were back at Stoneham Lane in a Wessex Premier League fixture on Saturday afternoon and win 4-1 against high flying Andover New Street.

A hat trick from Tyrell Sampson and one from Owen Fee secured the win. .

Owen Fee swung in a lovely inswinging corner that Jake Thomson was able to connect to on the volley, but he steered his shot wide.;The fast start continued for the Purps as a switch of play allowed Tyrell Sampson to cut inside at pace, however he skewed his shot high and wide.

Stoneham had the next shot on target as well as the lively Tyrell Sampson cut inside and played the ball through to Duarte Martins whose shot from the angle was comfortable for the opposition goalkeeper.

This fast start ensured that the Purps took an early lead as Mat Bainbridge received the ball on the edge of the area and laid off to Tyrell Sampson, who calmly slotted home for the lead.

A further effort came from a Ryan Cluett free kick with Mat Bainbridge getting the flick on which was well saved by the goalkeeper and Jake Thomson had a further header at the far post, forcing the keeper into action once more.

Owen Fee was left to rue a missed chance on 60 minutes as Duarte Martins slid him through one on one, however his curling effort was well saved by the goalkeeper who palmed it to safety.

The first Andover chance was a good one however, as a mistake from Ash Wells allowed Lewis Williams to nip in, however Ross Casey saved well from point blank range.

Tyrell Sampson doubled the lead and doubled his tally soon after with a curling effort into the bottom right corner after a lay off from Owen Fee.

The third followed for Stoneham as a lofted ball from Jim Orvis found Owen Fee who connected well to volley home. Tyrell Sampson soon grabbed his hat trick after connecting to a low driven ball across the box with an audacious backheel that rolled into the corner of the net, before Andover’s Lewis Williams pounced on a defensive error to grab a consolation for the away side before full time.

Team: Casey, Cluett, Nagle, Thomson, Wells, Orvis, Sampson, Bainbridge, Welch, Martin, Fee.

Andover New Street interview transcription:

Me: Good solid win today James, thoughts?

James: Yeah really impressed today. I thought that we were outstanding from minute

one. I think it was similar to the Baffins performance, with all respect to Andover, they

have had some brilliant results and are near top of the table and we have beaten one

of the top sides but I thought we made them look pretty poor to be honest. They are

a good side with lots of energy, but I think they had one opportunity which we gave

them in the last couple of minutes and they have scored from that but apart from that

I don’t remember casey having to make a save really and we could have had a

couple more , so yeah, top performance.

Me: A word on Tiz’s hat trick performance?

James: He was outstanding, really good. Believe it or not, he was miserable as

anything at training on Thursday and I was tempted to drop him really but he was

outstanding. His third goal we knew the moment he hit it really that it was curling in.

The keeper was a bit blindsided with the bodies in the way, but no, really good

performance from him and that is what I expect from him to be honest , those are the

levels that I think he should hit. When he plays wide, no one in this league wants to

play against him to be honest. He cuts in really well, so if he plays like that he will be

a handful for anyone.

Me; Did the quick start get aided by rotation on Tuesday?

James: Definitely we made changes on Tuesday obviously with this game in mind

and Monday night in mind as well. As I said before, the squad is so good we need to

use everyone. I trust all of them to play, regardless of what game it is .. We started

really well today, it was a feature we needed to do and we did, Baffins we started

really well and we scored really early. So I thought it was another good start and it

was similar to Tuesday to be honest. I think we have managed to turn that corner in

terms of starting slow so hopefully it continues.

Me: A word on the Josh Batt departure?

James: I love Josh to bits he is a lovely lad and played very well when he did feature

for us. Unfortunately for him, with the addition of Wellsy coming in his game time

would be very limited and understandably so, he gave it a month or so to try and get

into the team and when he got the opportunity to move on he did. We wish him all

the best, i wouldn’t be surprised if we see him back here at some point but hopefully

he goes and does really well like we know he can do.

Me: Totton on Monday preview?

James: We will make some changes. So this competition obviously we want to do

well with it, but it is not high up on our list, Again, we will use the squad. We have

five boys on the bench today that will probably play. We will still go there to win, but

they will be incredibly strong even if they play some of their under 23s. But it is a

game we are looking forward to, nice ground and nice gamje to hopefully show what

we can do.