Alton 5 Alresford 3: THE LARGE crowd that attended the local new-year derby on Bank Holiday Monday were treated to plenty of goals and incident.

The home side took the lead in this Wessex League Premier Division clash after two minutes, when skipper Oli Graham rose highest to head home Matt Benham’s corner.

They extended the lead on ten minutes when Rob Carr was pulled down by a defender and Graham confidently despatched the penalty.

Alresford fought their way back into the game on 26 minutes. After a spell of attacking football they pulled a goal back with a lovely finish from the edge of the box.

In the same incident Alton had goalkeeper Kieran Greene sent off, after reacting badly to a visiting striker who was attempting to return the ball quickly to the centre circle and flicked a foot out to trip him up.

The referee spotted it and issued a straight red card.

Alresford equalised on 32 minutes and enjoyed plenty of possession until they got into the last third, where Alton closed ranks.

They then broke at pace and as Liam Knight drove into the penalty area a defender handled, and this time Benham dispatched the penalty.

On 75 minutes Luke Perkins pressed a defender into a back pass which the keeper missed to put Alton 4-2 ahead.

It got even better in the 82nd minute when Perkins finished well into the bottom corner.

In injury time Alresford pulled a consolation goal back when a direct free kick from the left evaded everyone and found its way in at the far post to round off an entertaining and incident-packed clash.