Winchester II 2, Aldershot & Farnham 4

Aldershot & Farnham secured an important win at Kings School to move ahead of their opponents Winchester seconds into eighth place in the Surrey/Hampshire 2 table.

Winchester started the game the stronger and dominated the opening ten minutes, and they duly took the lead from a short corner with the ball fired low into the bottom corner.

A&F responded well and for the rest of the game, aside from the final five minutes when they absorbed some late pressure, they dominated.

And they didn’t have to wait long for the equaliser as, from their first short corner, Ian Metcalfe dived in to divert Jamie Weston’s drag into the bottom corner.

After the goal it was a heavy ten minutes of pressure from A&F, but they were guilty of trying to force through central areas rather than get in behind the Winchester defence from wide areas.

When the penny finally dropped success arrived, and in a beautifully flowing move down the left flank, initiated by Andrew Simmons and through Johnny Thompson and Phil Rushmere, Joe Whelan moved in across the baseline and cushioned the ball back for Metcalfe to apply the finishing touch for his second of the game.

Whelan, who has been freed of his defensive position with the arrival of Simmons, had an excellent game, offering his side a great deal of dynamism moving forward as he took up positions in both midfield and up front throughout the game.

A lapse of concentration cost A&F, though, as Winchester hit straight back. With the defence and midfield caught out of position a ball from the left wing toward the far post had Ed Rushmere diving in desperation, but unfortunately his effort only served to control the ball for the Winchester forward, giving him the easiest of finishes.

Half time arrived with the teams all square and despite the setback, A&F knew the game was theirs for the taking.

And so it proved, as Ewan Hammond pressed forward from right back and found Rob Jervis who weaved his way into the ‘D’ with his cross going in off a defender under pressure to restore A&F’s lead.

Whelan had the chance to cap off a fine performance with a goal but his first touch let him down after Metcalfe played a great cross behind their last man.

Winchester became more frustrated and collected a couple of cards and A&F took advantage, Thompson this time laying the ball wide to Jervis to again terrorise their left back. He popped the ball back to Metcalfe to finish for his hat-trick and give Aldershot & Farnham a 4-2 lead.

The home side created good positions to extend their lead further but couldn’t quite find the final ball.

Young goalkeeper Matt Cobbold, stepping up from the third team, was required to make a fine low save with his pads but by and large the A&F defence did pretty well to limit circle penetrations from Winchester.

Aldershot & Farnham: Cobbold, Hammond, Simmons, Weston, E Rushmere, Jervis, Thompson, Whelan, Groves, Metcalfe, Powell, P Rushmere.