ALTON 9,

NEW FOREST 1

ALTON began the second half of their Hampshire 2 campaign in rip-roaring style as they swept lowly New Forest aside at Amery Hill.

On the opening day of the season, Alton had lost 5-2 to New Forest, so this nine-goal blitz was sweet revenge indeed.

It took less than five minutes for a determined home side to draw first blood. Dave Compton found a gap and made no mistake.

The good start spurred Alton on and New Forest barely had time to settle before Pete Howland slid the ball through their defence into the bottom corner.

The visitors did their best to get a foothold on the game, but Alton were relentless and Compton soon added his second with a screamer of a shot.

New Forest’s misery increased as Brogan Fife broke away from his marker to score and Tom Singleton got the fifth goal just before half-time.

To their credit, New Forest came out fighting for the second half and Alton found themselves under pressure for the first time.

The home players looked sluggish and some slack passing allowed a shot to hit Nigel Downing’s foot, giving New Forest a penalty flick which was converted, thus denying Alton a third consecutive clean sheet.

This seemed to shake Alton up and Martin Kercher soon got them back on track when he broke into the circle to touch home a pass from Singleton.

Alton then won a string of short corners and lthough the visitors defended valiantly, James Wilson scored with a deflection – 7-1 to Alton.

Harry Curtis thumped home number eight before Scott Reading was shown a yellow card for an accidentally dangerous ball that put a New Forest player out of action.

Alton thus ended the game with ten men, but it did not stop defender Downing making a fine run down the left to score a rare goal.