Andover Town F.C.
 | |
| Full name | Andover Town Football Club |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2013 |
| Ground | Portway Stadium, Andover |
| Capacity | 3,000 |
| Chairman | Laurence Blair |
| Manager | Neil Benson |
| League |
Wessex League Premier Division |
| 2013–14 |
Wessex League Division One, 2nd (promoted) |
Andover Town F.C. is a football club based in Andover, Hampshire, established in 2013. The club competes in the Wessex Premier Division, the ninth tier of English football.
History
The club was formed in 2013 when the new leaseholders of the Portway Stadium, Sparsholt and Andover Colleges, were accepted into the Wessex Football League.[1]
Andover Town FC also has a youth side playing in the South West Counties Youth League, the youth side is made up of students from both Sparsholt College and Andover College.[2][3]
On the 9 October 2013, Andover Town was involved in a Hampshire Senior Cup tie at Brockenhurst. After the match finished 0–0 after extra time, the subsequent penalty shootout resulted in 29 consecutive goals being scored, with Brockenhurst winning 15–14. This was later confirmed by the Football Association as an English record (and possibly a world record) for the highest number of consecutive goals scored in a penalty shootout.[4][5][6][7]
2013-2014 Season
At the end of their first season Andover Town finished second in Wessex League Division One and were successfully promoted to the Wessex Premier Division for the 2014-2015 season. They also finished as Runners-Up in the Andover Open Cup, losing on penalties to Otterbourne FC (having drawn 3-3 after extra-time) and went on the become the Winners of the Salisbury Hospitals Cup, defeating Bemerton Heath Harlequins in the Final 3-2.
Andover Town ended the season on 73 points, winning 23 of the 30 games, drawing 4 losing just 3 games. In the 30 games played Andover Scored 108 goals, with Michael Dixon being Andover Town's top goalscorer with 34 goals in 29 games. Town also ended the season with least goals against only conceding 28 goals, with goalkeeper Michael Weatherall keeping 13 clean sheets.
Lewis Benson (captain) ended the season picking up both fans player and players player for the 2013-2014 season, another special mention should go to Lloyd Foot who scored 18 goals (league) from centre back, and the ex saints star subsequently moved on to play for Sutton United.
Ground
The ground was the home to former club Andover F.C. and, having been taken on by the Colleges as an Academy base, is has been refurbished ready for the return of competitive football.[8] The Andover College Football Academy programme will be delivered from the Stadium from September 2014, whilst it is also being used for the some Southampton (Sparsholt) Second Chance Academy fixtures and other local Community fixtures.
The stadium was constructed in 1989, and is situated in the Portway Industrial Estate on the western outskirts of the town.[9] Built at a cost of £850,000,[10] the ground has a main stand of brick and concrete construction with bench seating for around 250 people.[11] This stand is set on a bank running along the entire south side of the ground, giving spectators on that side an elevated view of the pitch.[11] The managers' benches are set into this banking in front of the stand at pitch level. The banking slopes down behind each goal until it reaches the same level as the pitch along the north side. There is hard standing around the entire perimeter of pitch, along with a turnstile block and a gate opening out onto the stadium car park for ambulance access.
Current staff
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Chairman | Lawrence Blair |
| Manager | Neil Benson |
| Assistant manager | Lewis Benson |
| Fitness Coach | Jordan O'Donnell |
| Physio | George Gore |
| Youth team Manager | Ron Bertie |
| Club Secretary | Barbara Paddock |
| Club Welfare and Child Protection Officer | Scott Cairley |
Current squad
Where a player has not declared an international allegiance, nation is determined by place of birth.
| No. | Position | Player | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Goalkeeper | Michael Weatherall |  England
|
| 2 | Defender | Lewis Alderman | England
|
| 3 | Defender | Ope Aromona | England
|
| 4 | Midfielder | Jordan O'Donnell | England
|
| 5 | Defender | Cole Hinchliffe | England
|
| 6 | Defender | Ryan Inskip | England
|
| 7 | Forward | Claudio Herbert | England
|
| 8 | Midfielder | Lewis Benson (captain) | England
|
| 9 | Forward | Michael Dixon | England
|
| 10 | Midfielder | Alex Dockree | England
|
| 11 | Forward | Gunner Yates | England
|
| 12 | Defender | Bradley Benson | England
|
| 13 | Goalkeeper | Jake Wellesley-Davies | England
|
| 14 | Forward | Tom Riddell | England
|
| 15 | Midfielder | Ike Robertson | England
|
| 16 | Forward | Toby McCauly | England
|
| 17 | Forward | Nic Turpin | England
|
| 18 | Midfielder | Danny Urry | England
|
| 19 | Midfielder | Charlie Gunson | England
|
| 20 | Midfielder | Tommy Wright | England
|
| 21 | Defender | Joe Woodward | England
|
References
- ↑ College club to be known as Andover Town FC in the Wessex League
- ↑ "South West Counties Youth League". The Football Association. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
- ↑ Miller, Kerry (5 July 2013). "New Andover Town to play in blue and white". Andover Advertiser. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
- ↑ Hassan, Nabil (15 October 2013). "Penalty shoot-out record: Brockenhurst 15–14 Andover". BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
- ↑ Rice, Simon (15 October 2013). "Brockenhurst and Andover Town score 29 consecutive penalties to set new record". The Independent. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
- ↑ "Penalty shootout record: like shooting goals in a barrel?". The Guardian. 15 October 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
- ↑ "Non-league sides set penalty shoot-out record". Eurosport. 15 October 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
- ↑ "Football returns in Portway vote (From Andover Advertiser)". Andoveradvertiser.co.uk. 2013-07-17. Retrieved 2013-08-04.
- ↑ "Andover Football Club – History Page". Retrieved 28 January 2008.
- ↑ "Andover Football Club – History". Andover Football Club. 19 April 2007. Archived from the original on 31 January 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Pyramid Passion: Andover". Archived from the original on 9 May 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2008.