Petersfield Town 0 Kempston Rovers 3: AS THE song goes by Shed Seven, it’s getting better all the time for the Rams in terms of the threat they are becoming to other teams but they were undone by an appalling start to this Division 1 Central game on Saturday.

The game was as good as over after Kempston raced into a two-goal lead with only four minutes on the clock.

To their credit, Petersfield picked themselves up and not only competed well for large parts of the rest of the match, but if their second half supremacy had been rewarded with a deserved goal, who knows what they may have ended up with.

Kempston had what the home side are crying out for right now – a deadly striker who doesn’t hesitate to put away the chances which come his way.

The Rams had no answer to Danny Watson on the day – not that there was anything fancy about what he did but Petersfield’s defence went to sleep three times in the 90 minutes and each time he netted the chance he had to score.

Goal number one came after only two minutes when Watson raced on to a ball over the top of the home defence, which had pushed up towards the halfway line. The Kempston striker raced clear, took the ball into the left hand side of the penalty area before curling an unstoppable shot past keeper Matt Petts and into the far corner of the net.

Goal number two came two minutes later from a throw in on the right. The ball went past three or four defenders who watched it run into the path of Watson on the edge of the six yard box and he helped the ball past Petts and into the net.

It nearly got even worse for Petersfield when Ash Fuller’s inswinging free kick from the right beat everyone but only just went past the far post and Dom Marsala then squared the ball across the face of goal and Watson had an effort from close range blocked.

As the half wore on Petersfield slowly recovered from their shaky start and they had a couple of half chances of their own to cut the deficit.

On 16 minutes a free kick floated into the penalty area found Shawn Benjamin but his header was blocked by keeper Martin Conway and Olly Sturt’s follow-up effort was blocked by a defender.

Seven minutes later, quick play in midfield saw the ball passed out to the right and Preston Tee’s first time cross found Sturt at the far post but he couldn’t put his header on target from around five yards out.

Petersfield’s best chance of the first half came on 38 minutes when Alex Miroy received the ball on the edge of the area. He cut inside his marker and just as he looked like he was about to fire the ball into the bottom corner of the net, a defender’s outstretched leg got in front of the ball before he could get his shot away and his chance to score was gone.

The home side felt hard done by eight minutes into the second half when they had the ball in the net when Olly Searle volleyed home from the right hand edge of the penalty area only for a linesman’s flag to rule the effort out.

On 56 minutes a quickly taken corner saw Miroy cross the ball from the right straight to Sturt but he headed over when unmarked inside the six yard box.

Midway through the second half Petersfield had another corner from which the home side had three shots on goal blocked by the visitors and every time they picked up the loose ball around the penalty area, the Rams simply could not find a way past Kempston’s rearguard action.

Petersfield were hit by a sucker punch in the last minute of the game when Watson completed his hat-trick. Petts misplaced his clearance straight at the feet of an away team midfielder, who moved the ball quickly and after some swift passing the striker found himself with the ball inside the penalty area and he had time to pick his spot and smash the ball low into the bottom corner.

Petersfield: Petts, Searle, Graham, Green, Benjamin, Page, Tee, Cripps, Sturt, Whittingham, Miroy. Subs not used: Geddes, Wedlake, Giles, Corsaro.