A BUMPER crowd were at the Portway last Saturday to see Bobby Swayne earn Andover Town a dramatic point with a 93rd minute equaliser against AFC Portchester.

262 people attended the second versus third place clash, which took place on national NonLeague Day.

As always, Town celebrated the annual countrywide celebration by inviting players, coaches and managers from the club’s extensive youth academy to meet the first team and watch them in action.

They were not disappointed, as second place Town, who fielded the same side that had beaten Bemerton Heath Harlequins 3-0 in their previous outing, battled hard for a deserved point.

However, it was Portchester who started the brightest, testing Town goalkeeper Jamie Bray early on.

Bray held his nerve, making several smart saves, before Town took the lead against the run of play on 20 minutes.

A Craig Blakeman tackle in midfield saw the ball break to Sammy Pekun on the edge of the area and the winger poked the ball past the onrushing keeper, despite a stumbling in the process.

Portchester equalised just nine minutes later after Liam Gilbert was cautioned for a tactical foul, committed as the away side broke away dangerously.

The free kick was fired long towards the Town box before being knocked back across goal and finding Luke Warren who headed the ball straight into the top corner.

Town should have had a second goal just before half time when a period of sustained pressure saw Jordan O’Donnell find space near the byline.

However, despite several Town players queuing up for the cut back, O’Donnell elected to shoot allowing Porchester keeper Thomas to save easily.

The resultant corner was headed goalwards before a clearance from the goal line found Matt Scott six yards out only for the defender to fire high over the crossbar.

A clash of bodies saw Lewis Benson felled by an apparent elbow from Porchester’s Ash Howes and a resultant melee of players.

Referee Paula Wyatt, having sought the views of her assistant, booked Howes before bringing the first half to a close soon after.

The second half started with Portchester in the ascendancy and, in the 50th minute, a corner found the unmarked Gary Moody to head home and give the visitors the lead.

A series of substitutions followed as Portchester sought to consolidate their lead and Town responded with 30 minutes to play as Kevin Gibbens, returning from injury, replaced Charlie Gunson.

Sammy Pekun, who had a quiet game by his standards, came to life as the Portchester defence began to tire.

Firstly a good run, after 73 minutes, saw the ball turned away for a corner and minutes later he was on the end of an excellent move which saw his final cross find the head of Chris Onoufriou, but the midfielder was unable to direct the header on target.

Ollie Yates and Bobby Swayne replaced Suhael Odeh and Liam Gilbert respectively as Benson pushed central defender Scott up front in search of the equaliser.

Despite this Town struggled to fashion any clear chances and it was Portchester who still threatened and it took a good save from Bray to keep the deficit down to a single goal.

As the game entered stoppage time, one final Town attack saw the ball again bundled for a corner.

Yates swung the ball in from the left hand side, finding an onrushing Bobby Swayne whose header crashed into the net to spark wild celebrations both on and off the pitch.

No sooner had the game restarted, referee Wyatt blew the final whistle, sending the bumper home crowd away pleased with a hard earned point.