ANDOVER Lions maintained their joint top spot and their perfect start to their season with a 3-2 home win over AFC Petersfield.

However it was made a difficult task for Lions, who were forced to claw back a two goal deficit before securing their sixth victory of the season so far.

Andover started confidently and Owen had a good chance to open the scoring after two minutes when Paris sent him clear, but Nathan Bray tipped his effort wide of the post.

After the quarter hour mark however the balance of the game shifted.

A short corner unravelled the home defence and Hyde was left unmarked to stoop and head in from close range.

It could have been made worse for Lions but for an excellent save by Baxter who beat away a stinging effort from close range.

Lions hit back and appealed in vain for a penalty when Stringer appeared to be brought down inside the box but Bray was adjudged to have got his hands to the ball first.

The visiting keeper then denied Lock with a fine save before Petersfield quickly turned the tables as Kennedy doubled the lead after capitalising on a defensive mix up in the home defence.

The Lions awoke and the fight back began shortly before the break when Paris set Lock free and the striker calmly tucked the ball away to reduce the deficit.

Zach Neve was introduced on half time, replacing Tom Adams who was suffering from sickness, and Robbie Owen moved back into the back four.

The Lions came out stronger after stern words from John Smith at half time and both Lock and Neve went close with headers in the first ten minutes of the second half.

On the hour mark Neve pulled Andover level with a long range effort to bring the Lions firmly back into the game.

Stringer had an effort saved from 25 yards and on 70 minutes Bray pulled off a terrific save from Stringer’s carefully placed shot and Paris’s follow up was blocked when it appeared destined for the net. Moments later Lions went ahead for the first time when Stringer rolled a free kick to Alex Wright and the powerful midfielder drove his shot low and hard beneath a defensive wall.

Andover had a second shout for a penalty turned down when Allen appeared to be brought down but it proved irrelevant as the Lions ran out 3-2 winners.

After the match Lion’s manager, John Smith, said: “I told everyone before the game to forget about the Lyndhurst game but I had a feeling that we would be complacent after such a big score the week before.

“The first half confirmed all of my worst fears and the players got told a few home truths at half time.

“I couldn’t fault them in the second half though and we turned the game around and got the points. It’s good to see that we can win a game coming from behind; it showed that we’ve got some character, winning matches can become a habit but you have to work for it.

“Four Marks, Hayling and Broughton keep picking up points so we can’t afford any silly slip ups to teams in the bottom half of the table.”