SUBSTITUTE Cameron Hough was the hero of the hour on Saturday after his late screamer snatched Andover Town a narrow 4-3 victory over local rivals Whitchurch United.

However it was the ever clinical Michael Dixon who claimed man-of-the-match after his first half hat-trick gave Town the upper-hand with three well taken goals.

Town, who welcomed a crowd of over 150 to the Portway, started brightest of the two teams, with Dixon almost opening the scoring just five minutes in after he was put through by Lewis Benson.

The striker forced an acrobatic save from Whitchurch’s Brad Snelling but the goalkeeper was given no chance 15 minutes in when Benson and Dixon combined once more with the striker skilfully taking a ball down on his chest and smashing it into the bottom left.

The game took a controversial twist just minutes later when Alex Dockree appeared to knock the ball out of Snelling’s hands after the keeper had grabbed it from a cross.

However the referee deemed it a fair challenge and Dixon took full advantage tapping home at the back post from two yards out to give Andover a 2-0 lead.

Whitchurch manager Carl Bennett fumed on the touchline but his mood calmed 10 minutes later when poor defending from a corner left Mitch Fear space in the box to fire a shot through the crowd and past Town goalkeeper Michael Horne.

Both teams began to settle but Dixon rounded up his hat-trick just before half-time when Benson burst into the final third and played a clever reverse ball to Dixon who passed it into the bottom left to give Andover a 3-1 lead going into the break.

Whitchurch came out determined in the second half and after three minutes they narrowed Town’s lead with a great individual goal from Taurean Manders who cut in from the right and rolled the ball past an outstretched Horne.

Whitchurch were then gifted a golden opportunity to equalise shortly after the hour mark when Tom Lockyer’s pace caught out Matt Scott who brought down the midfielder as he burst into the box.

Josh Green stepped up confidently and dispatched the penalty to bring Whitchurch level before Oli Yates spurned an unbelievable chance to restore Andover’s lead minutes later when he smashed the ball wide from five yards.

Town were then hit with worrying news after Dixon was forced off with an injury prompting manager Neil Benson to bring on Claudio Herbert and Cameron Hough.

However the substitutes proved to be a positive boost for Andover after Hough picked the ball up on the right edge of the area before shifting onto his left foot and bending a superb effort into the top left.

The goal all-but finished off a plucky Whitchurch side who then suffered a further blow in injury time when substitute Ryan Lambert was sent-off after receiving a second yellow for an unnecessary late challenge.

Andover Town manager Neil Benson was delighted with the result and speaking after the game, he said: “We certainly dominated the first half and we were unlucky not to be going into half time with more than three goals.

“Going forward we always looked dangerous and likely to score goals but we don’t like concede full stop so I am disappointed to concede three at home, particularly sloppy goals from corners.

“But it was good to get three points, which we fully deserved given the state of the game overall.”

Talking about Dixon’s injury, he added: “It was a groin strain and hopefully it won’t keep him out for too long.”