Andover Thrashers v Team England 9man Challenge Match Review

12th September 2004

Andover Thrashers 16 - 12 Team England

Enjoying home field advantage for the first time in any of their previous games, Andover were spurred on as they took on Team England, who were making their preparations for the World Cup in Florida in February.

Team England opted to start with possession after the Thrashers won the toss, but elected to use the prevailing winds and slope of the pitch in the first quarter. But, if Team England had expected an easy ride they were in for a big shock.

The Thrashers defence stood firm and held on to thwart the national side's first drive before driving the full length of the pitch to score on a 15yd pass from QB Andy Mountain to WR Adam Russell. The kick was successfully converted by Ty Metcalfe to give them an 8-0 lead.

The second quarter saw an impressive performance from both teams with aggressive defence trying to contain and cancel out offensive flair. Team England snuffed out one Andover drive by first tipping a Mountain pass before intercepting it.

Before half-time however Team England came back to pinch a touchdown despite the Thrashers' best efforts to keep them out.

After the score the national side opted to go for a passing play to convert and this was disrupted by Manny Ferreira and Ty Metcalfe as Andover went in at the half up 8-6.

After making slight adjustments in the game plan it was decided that the only way to give new players experience was to play them and the third quarter saw the Thrashers on the rack as Team England piled on the pressure with pin-point passes from QB NIck Watson, that eventually opened up Andover to take a 12-8 lead.

The fourth quarter saw a determined Thrashers pull together as the defensive line of Lee Mudd, Dean Rotman and Paul Whitefield (who recorded 2 sacks in the game) battled to pressure the England passer into making mistakes.

Andover staged a remarkable comeback and the game began to swing in their favour as they executed plays with precision.

The small, but vocal crowd got behind the team, and erupted as RB Manny Ferreira sprinted to the outside, after catching a pass from Mountain, and dived over in the corner to score.

Ty Metcalfe once again added the extra points to give Andover a 16-12 lead heading into to the final 2 minutes, before Andy Mountain, in his defensive role, picked off a Watson pass that allowed the Thrashers to run the remaining time on the clock down.