Scorers : Barry Mason 15, 35, Lee Wort 58
Date : Saturday 23rd April 2016 - 3pm - Sydenhams Wessex Premier
Sholing : Ryan Gosney, Alex Sawyer, Marv McLean, Pete Castle, Dan Miller, Kierman Winman, Barry Mason, Byron Mason [c], Dan Mason (Nick Yeomans 71), Lee Wort, Jamie Bulpitt. Subs not used: Kev Brewster, Jake Hoole, Liam Attrill, Jordan Brooks
Yellow Card : Lee Wort
Andover Town : Michael Horne, Luke Dempsey, Craig Blakeman, Chris Onoupriou, Ashley Vickers (Michael Dixon), Connor Cocklin, Sammy Pekan (Ibrahim Olatade), Lewis Benson [c], Alex Dockree (Adam Grange), Lloyd Foot, Charlie Gunson. Subs not used: Mcaulie Stubbs, Adam Scott
Yellow Card : Ashley Vickers
Attendance : 94
Man of the Match : Barry Mason
Referee : Robert Ablitt Assistants: Adam Osborne & Matthew Finnegan
SHOLING proved their potential by beating fellow high-flyers Andover 3 - 0 to move above them into third place in the Wessex League. Two excellent goals from Barry Mason and another from Lee Wort set Sholing on their way to an emphatic win. On a cool Saturday afternoon, Mason’s first was an exquisite volley from just inside the area while his second was a close range sliding finish, while Wort rounded the goalkeeper to complete a comfortable victory for the Boatmen.
Team News : With Dean Faithfull away, Pete Castle returned for his first game in over a month. Zach Glasspool was suspended, so Lee Wort partnered Dan Mason up front. Jack Smith has an ankle injury which will rule him out of the run-in so Kieran Winman came into centre midfield.
It was the visitors who made the early running and after three minutes pacey winger Sam Pekan managed to get past Marvin McLean but from a tight angle could only find the side netting. Then it was Sholing’s turn to threaten. Wort’s mazy run down the left teed up Dan Mason, who looked certain score from eight yards until a huge bobble saw him shin the ball well over.
That seemed to lift the home side, and soon they were in the lead when on 15 minutes BARRY MASON hit a spectacular volley into the far corner from 18 yards out, after the visitors had failed to deal with a left wing cross.
For the next twenty minutes the game settled, with both sides not creating anything of note and visiting defender Ashley Vickers going into the book for a cynical foul on Bulpitt, who was leading a counter attack.
However, on 36 minutes the Boatmen doubled their lead and Mason doubled his tally. Dan Mason held up the ball on the left wing and backheeled the ball into the path of the overlapping Jamie Bulpitt, who cut towards the area and delivered a low cross that was met by the arriving BARRY MASON at the near post who used his pace & power to get ahead of the Andover defenders and knock the ball in.
Things went from bad to worse for Andover, who then lost centre-half Vickers to a nasty looking Achilles injury just before half-time. HT 2-0
Sholing were keen to kick on after half-time, and Bulpitt went close himself just two minutes in as turned and flashed a shot just wide.
Wort then had another two attempts as a ball over the top from McLean sent him through, but he could only drag the shot wide, before Andover keeper Michael Thorne denied him with an excellent save low down after more great football from the hosts.
Wort was not to be denied and shortly before the hour he had his goal. It came courtesy of more terrible defending from Andover as Connor Cocklin could only stumble over when failing to cut out a Barry Mason through ball, which left LEE WORT free to round the goalkeeper and with a defender back on the line, he passed the ball into the net.
He almost doubled his tally immediately after that, controlling Dan Mason’s deep cross, flicking over the head of the defender before hitting a dipping volley that fizzed inches over as Sholing turned the screw.
The striker completed an eventful quarter of an hour with 25 minutes to go, as a 50/50 challenge on Andover's Lloyd Foot earned him a yellow card. The experienced Foot was doing his best to convince the ref it was a red card as he lay on the floor screaming in agony & rolling around, but when that didn't work, he got up and miraculously continued playing.
There was time for one more Sholing chance, as Wort laid it off to Barry Mason on the right hand side for the winger to cross to his brother Dan, whose goalbound header was clawed away by the overworked Thorne in the Andover goal.
Sholing from thereon in were content to close the game out. Andover huffed & puffed, but the Sholing defence were in control and what few efforts did get past them were food & drink for Ryan Gosney. FT 3-0
By Jack Prentice - Edit by Ollie Harvey
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View from the stands: An excellent performance by every Sholing player as we once again seem to play much better against the better teams. This was a similar performance to the win over Portchester with the same scoreline as well. Everyone put in a good shift, no mistakes, good tempo and excellent finishing. A rocket from Barry for the first and a lovely team goal for the second. It was the Lee Wort we remember so well as he made scoring the third look easy. Defence was strong, with Pete Castle doing well for his first game in 5 weeks. Kieran Winman looked at home alongside Byron in the middle of the park and Jamie Bulpitt had the freedom to get involved all over the pitch.
Now we have moved into 3rd place, let's hope we can keep it and maybe if we beat Blackfield and they slip up in one of their other games, then 2nd place maybe possible.
Last home game of the season is on Thursday v Blackfield & Langley (7:45pm)
