ANDOVER Lions’ torrid season continued with a five-goal reverse at the hands of Hayling United at a wet and windy Hayling Park.

The Lions made the 100-mile round trip to the coast with Cray Sams replacing the injured Dan Magee in goal and Nick Dadds returning up front.

Four places and 18 points separated the teams at kick-off, with Lions still rooted to the bottom of the table, and not surprisingly the hosts started the more confident.

Lions had an early let off on five minutes when a shot from Vassallo rebounded off the post to the unmarked Kirby, who miskicked with an open goal beckoning as he struggled to keep his feet on the wet surface.

The good fortune did not last long though and on 14 minutes the Lions went behind when Sams parried an effort to the feet of Kirby, who did not make the same mistake twice.

Dadds had a header just over from a Black cross in a rare sortie forward but Hayling looked likely to extend their lead at each attack and with Andover’s captain Darren Paris going off injured on the half hour mark it looked even more likely.

The 1-0 half-time scoreline gave some hope going into the second period but Lions suffered the worst possible start when, just three minutes in, Sams lost a race to a loose ball to Vassallo, who rolled it into the open net.

On the hour mark the same player added his second in fortuitous style, with a heavily deflected shot that left Sams with no chance to give the home team a three-goal advantage.

Lions had two good efforts in quick succession when Hind shot straight into the keeper’s arms after collecting a Black cross and Dadds then hit an excellent free-kick from all of 30 yards that the keeper somehow tipped over when it looked destined for the top corner.

Kirby added his second, and Hayling’s fourth, and apart from a Hind header cleared off the line, the game appeared to be heading to a tame finish.

However, with two minutes left there was uproar as the referee, who had given Lions a free-kick for offside within their own penalty area changed his decision to a dropped ball.

With the players walking away expecting the ball to be played back to Sams in a sporting manner, the referee dropped the ball at the feet of Hayling United’s player manager Keogh, who smashed it into the goal unchallenged.

The Andover players, unsurprisingly were outraged and Sam Cook was shown red as the game degenerated into chaos.

After the match Andover’s Chris Paris was furious. “It’s not been a good day for us again today. We didn’t deserve to get anything out of the match but for the match to end like it did was just disgusting,” he said.

“If their manager wants to play like that then good luck to him, it was embarrassing, he showed a total lack of respect when the game was already well won.

“Now we have a player looking at a ban and the FA will be writing to me and all because they finished the game with no class. We are working hard to try and turn fortunes around here and it may be that it gets worse before it gets better but we will get points soon and our target now is to get above our two closest rivals before the season ends.”