ANDOVER Lions good run came to an end on Saturday when losing to Broughton for the third time since New Year.

George Baxter retained his position in goal following an impressive performance at Upham and Howard Goddard recalled Max Allen and Aaron Black who both missed Easter Monday’s game.

Once again the wind was to have a major effect on proceedings and Broughton won the toss and elected to go with it for the first 45 minutes.

After eight minutes it appeared to be a good decision as Ben Rankin latched onto Baxter’s hurried clearance and shot home from 25 yards but The Lions responded and Allen was only just wide with an effort from 20 yards just two minutes later.

Halfway through the first half Andover had an excellent chance to draw level when a Black free kick caused confusion in the Broughton penalty area and Tolfrey’s effort was blocked for a corner.

Two minutes later another Black free kick caused problems and Streeter put an effort wide as The Lions pressed for an equaliser.

Lewis Alderman then went close for the visitors with a lob from all of 35 yards that was only fractionally wide before Allen and Tolfrey again had good efforts denied following free kicks into the visitor’s box.

The Lions had some good early pressure in the second half but the wind had died down considerably by this point and the visitors coped quite effectively with anything The Lions put their way.

On 58 minutes, the League’s leading scorer, Shane Vidler, cut inside and hit a 25 yard shot past Baxter to give Broughton the comfort of a two-goal lead.

Five minutes later Andy Clark had the opportunity to seal the points from the penalty spot but George Baxter dived full length to his left to palm away the effort and give The Lions a lifeline.

Late injuries depleted Andover to 10 men but to their credit they pushed hard to get back in the match but all to no avail. Broughton for their part missed several break away chances as The Lions poured forward including a 4 on 1 breakaway that somehow they conspired to miss.

Their earlier efforts were, however, good enough to secure the points which should see them finish in third spot.

After the match Chris Paris was disappointed that his teams run of victories had been ended. “We were hoping to keep the run going until the end of the season but on the day Broughton edged it. The first half was very even and we felt unlucky to go in behind.

The second half showed that our squad wasn’t big enough on the day and we ran out of legs chasing the game. In a way it was a replica of our last home game versus Lyndhurst.”

The Lions travel to Cadnam on 25th April for their last fixture of the season.