THERE was no ‘club-of-the-month’ curse for Andover Town on Saturday as they maintained their ten-point cushion at the Sydenhams Premier summit with a 2-1 home win over Cowes Sports.

Glenn Burnett’s league leaders were presented with the October prize before kick-off and there was also a special award made to long-serving midfielder Alex Dockree to mark 150 club appearances.

It took Andover just nine minutes to edge in front – and what a goal it was as George Hallahan let fly with a 35-yard volley that left Cowes goalkeeper Ed Hatt statuesque.

But the celebrations were short-lived as the Isle of Wight visitors mustered an immediate reply. Hesitation in the home defence allowed Aiden Bryan to head in off the underside of the crossbar to make it 1-1 after 12 minutes.

Still the early flurry of action wasn’t over, however, with Andover reclaiming the lead two minutes later.

Mike Gosney was architect with a near-post corner that was touched over the line by Zach Glasspool for what proved to be the winning goal.

It wasn’t the most convincing of performances by the table-topping north Hampshire club who were grateful to goalkeeper Luke Cairney for a great, point-blank save from John McKie at the start of the second half.

On a positive note, Andover have totted up 55 points at the halfway point of the campaign – one more than they banked in the whole of last season. Their goal tally of 63 is just six short of their 2016/17 total.

Tomorrow (Tuesday, 7.45pm) Andover travel to Amesbury Town in the Salisbury Hospital Cup.