CHRISTCHURCH'S bright start to the campaign continued as they made it five wins on the spin with an impressive 3-1 victory at Andover.

Andy Leader's side did it the hard way after falling behind early on. But Dave Roberts' penalty levelled matters almost instantly before the hosts were reduced to 10 men after Vince Rusher was dismissed for punching Duncan Wells.

Christchurch then dominated the second period but were forced to play a patience game before goals in the last 10 minutes from Lloyd Jenvey and Reza Sotoudeh earned the visitors all three points.

Leader said: "Not many teams will go there and get a result this season.

"We set our stall out, defended well, took our chances and truly deserved the win.

"We learnt from our mistakes from the Poppies game, when they went down to 10 men, as with good sides, 10 men can become 12.

"So it was all about patience and we didn't force it. We left it late but it came in the end."

After going behind, Matt Chaska's run almost straight from the restart won Christchurch a penalty that Roberts converted.

Rusher's misdemeanour right on half-time swung the game firmly in the visitors' favour but they were forced to wait until in-form Jenvey converted a cross from eight yards out to edge them ahead.

Substitute Sotoudeh then made the game safe as he latched on to Roberts' flick and outwitted the Andover goalkeeper in the one-on-one.

Christchurch: Barfoot, Wells, Hodder, J Atkins, Elliott, Chaska, Jenvey, Crutchley, Till (S Atkins 80), D Roberts, Woolner (Sotoudeh 70). Unused subs: Sykes, Puckett, P Roberts.