Andover Town Football Club is a football club based in

Andover, Hampshire Andover ( ) is a town in the English county of Hampshire. The town is on the River Anton, a major tributary of the Test, and is situated alongside the major A303 trunk road at the eastern end of Salisbury Plain, west of the town of Basi ...

, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Portway Stadium.

History

The club was established by staff from Andover College and

Sparsholt College Sparsholt College is a Further Education (FE) and Higher Education (HE) college located at Sparsholt near Winchester, with a secondary campus in Andover, both in Hampshire in the south of England. The college provides courses from sixth form ...

in 2013 after

Andover F.C. Andover may refer to: Places Australia * Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Ando ...

had disbanded; the two colleges approached

Test Valley Borough Council Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * Test (2013 film), ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * Test ( ...

about taking over Andover's Portway Stadium to use for their football academy programmes, with the aim of also forming a senior club.Club Information
Andover Town F.C. The club were elected to Division One of the

Wessex League The Wessex Football League is an English association football league formed in 1986, with its premier division currently at the fifth step of the National League System, or the ninth tier of the overall English football league system. The part ...

. During their first season they were involved in a

Hampshire Senior Cup The Hampshire Senior Cup is a cup competition open to football teams affiliated with the Hampshire Football Association. The competition was founded in 1887 and has been contested every year since, with the exception of 1914 to 1919 when it wa ...

tie at

Brockenhurst Brockenhurst is the largest village by population within the New Forest in Hampshire, England. The nearest city is Southampton some to the North East, while Bournemouth is also nearby, South West. Surrounding towns and villages include Beauli ...

which finished 0–0 after extra time; in the subsequent

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

, 29 consecutive penalties were scored, with Brockenhurst eventually winning 15–14. This was later confirmed by

the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world ...

as an English record (and possibly a world record) for the highest number of consecutive goals scored in a penalty shootout. At the end of the 2013–14 season Andover were Division One runners-up, earning promotion to the Premier Division. The following season saw them make their debut in the

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footb ...

, and in 2015–16 they played in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

for the first time. In 2017–18 the club were Premier Division runners-up, potentially earning promotion to Division One West of the Southern League. However, the club turned down promotion and were relegated to Division One of the Wessex League as punishment.

Ground

The club took over Andover F.C.'s Portway Stadium following a vote at Test Valley Borough Council in July 2013. The stadium had been built in 1989 at a cost of £850,000. A large stand with bench seating was built on one side of the pitch and slightly raise above it, with the other three sides left open. After being refurbished, the ground was reopened on 28 December 2013 for a match against Team Solent, with Andover winning 4–0 in front of a crowd of 161.Winning Start at Portway Stadium
Andover Town, 28 December 2013

Records

*Best

performance: First qualifying round, 2016–17 *Best

performance: Second round, 2016–17 *Record attendance: 546 vs

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

, Wessex League Premier Division, 18 August 2015 *Biggest win: 11–0 vs East Cowes Victoria Athletic, Wessex League Division One, 25 January 2014 *Heaviest defeat: 6–0 vs Salisbury, Wessex League Premier Division, 2 February 2016 *Most appearances: Alex Doctree, 130 *Most goals: Michael Dixon, 52

References

External links

Official website
{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Football clubs in England Football clubs in Hampshire Association football clubs established in 2013 Andover, Hampshire 2013 establishments in England University and college football clubs in England Wessex Football League

History

Ground

Records

See also

References

External links