Andover 6

King's Somborne

ANDOVER, holders of the North Hants Senior Cup for the past two years, cruised into this season's semi-finals after hitting local Hants Division Two side King's Somborne for six at The Portway on Tuesday night - despite having only 10 men!

Injuries and unavailability to the Lions 14-strong squad left the CFL ponsored town side short on numbers but it hard mattered not a jot with Vince Rusher continuing his rich vein of form with five of the goals and Alan Kennedy notching the other in a one-sided encounter.

Rusher, who has found the net 11 times in his last three starts, has now moved up to sixth place on town club's all-time list of scorers with a total of 115 goals, and amazingly team-mates Paul Odey and Andy Forbes also figure in Andover's top six hitmen.

Odey is in fourth spot and Forbes lies second to top marksmen Tommy Muckles but fortunately for Somborne both were missing on this occasion.

Somborne had no answer to the Lions' slick passing and movement and trailed 5-0 at the break.

Rusher added to his four-goal first-half salvo by completing the scoring with his fifth of the night in the second half and it could have been many more, with 'keeper Kieron Drake missing out on a chance of adding his name to the score sheet when he blazed a second-half penalty over the bar off the body of Somborne 'keeper Ian Oram.

Terry Harfield's Somborne, newcomers to the county league this season, claimed four Hants Premier Division scalps in cup matches during a 14-match unbeaten run earlier in the season but, despite the gap in class, kept going to the end.

Most of King's Somborne turned up to cheer the village team's every move and the biggest of the night came when Charlie Spencer headed home their 60th minute consolation goal to make it 5-1 on the hour.

Spencer is known in the village as 'magic boots' but all the 'magic' there was on the night came from the 10-man Lions, and especially the in-form Rusher and the Lions will undoubtedly miss him next month when he will be away working in the Channel Islands.

Andover (4-4-2): Drake; Freeman, Barker, Crossley, Bicknell; Kennedy, Asker, Gooding, Dyke; Rusher. King's Somborne (4-4-2): Ian Oram; Bennett, Smith, Madigan; Elsey; Edwards, Anderson, Lane, Wassell, Young; Jones, Spencer. Subs: Young (for Smith 65 mins), Lester Oram (for Jones 81 mins).