Petersfield Town 1 North Greenford United 0: PETERSFIELD Town all but mathematically secured their Division 1 Central status with this win against bottom of the table North Greenford United on Saturday.

The three points gained at Love Lane means the visitors can no longer catch the Rams and three points from their home match against Northwood on Wednesday night would ensure Petersfield are out of the reach of second from bottom Leighton Town.

Petersfield dominated the first half and should have had the game sewn up by the interval but the combination of some poor finishing and good saves by visiting keeper Lewis Todd kept their lead down to one goal at half time.

The Rams took the lead with the first meaningful attack of the afternoon on 14 minutes. A Petersfield free kick into the penalty area was cleared up towards the half way line and Andy Todd chased back to win possession.

The ball was then played forward again into the path of Howard Neighbour, who allowed the pass to roll into the penalty area before thumping his shot home off the underside of the crossbar.

The visitors spurned what turned out to be their best chance of the afternoon to score three minutes later. Glen Yala beat Olly Searle on the half way line and surged forward down the left. He then pulled the ball back across the penalty area and into the path of Charlie Conner but he could only find the side netting with his shot.

On 28 minutes a deep ball into the box was headed on by Andy Todd and his effort dropped over the keeper, hit the post and was then hacked clear to safety.

Three minutes later a corner from the right was knocked towards goal and Jordan Neal tried to turn the ball over the line from only a few yards out but Lewis Todd made a fine one handed save on the line to keep the effort out of the net.

Joe Briggs then had two chances to score – he flashed one shot across the face of the goal and his second effort beat the keeper but hit the top of the crossbar.

The Rams went closer still on 36 minutes when Andy Todd picked up the ball on the left hand side of the penalty area and his deep cross found Briggs at the far post. He played the ball back into the centre of the box and Neal’s shot from ten yards out was deflected by Yala.

It looked to be going in until Lewis Todd got down low to his left to prevent the ball from crossing the line.

Lewis Todd completed his strong first half showing by turning a curling free kick from the edge of the penalty area around the post for a corner.

North Greenford deserve credit for their battling second half performance – they tried desperately to get something from the game to help them in their fight against relegation.

Although they had plenty of possession and a lot of the territorial advantage they lacked any cutting edge up front and Petersfield withstood their surges forward relatively comfortably.

On 59 minutes Conner should have done better when he found some space on the right and although his ball towards goal had Luke Eaton scrambling across his line it dropped wide of the target and there was no one there to touch the ball home.

Moments later Joe Richardson had a goal disallowed for offside after lifting his shot over the keeper and into the far corner of the net and at the other end substitute Kamal McEwan fired well over the top from 20 yards out.

The visitors had to wait until injury time until they managed to put the Rams’ goal under serious threat again and some in the North Greenford camp thought they had snatched a point at the death.

The visitors worked some space on the right hand side and after the ball was crossed deep into the penalty area substitute Piotr Marek had a free shot at the far post and although initially it looked like he had scored to some people in the crowd, his effort had in fact bounced harmlessly into the side netting.

Petersfield: Eaton, O Searle, Needham, Green, Sackman (Hyde), Ford, Richardson, Neal (Bailey), Neighbour, Todd, Briggs. Subs not used: Wain, Saunders, Silver.