Northwood 2 Petersfield Town 1: League leaders Northwood provided the knock-out blow to Petersfield Town’s 30 game unbeaten run in the league on Tuesday night.

The Rams hadn’t lost since October 15 last year and they can have few

complaints about their defeat in this visit to west London.

To continue the boxing analogies, Petersfield took a pummelling in the first half and they were thankful to reach the end of round one – or the first half – without being completely knocked out of the contest.

The smelling salts of manager Ian Saunders’ half time team talk revived the visitors enough for the second half so they made a better contest of the match but they were still rocking on their heels at times.

In plain language, the Rams were appalling in the first half and they were lucky not to be four or five goals down. They improved after the interval but they were still nowhere near the high standards of play they have set themselves in recent seasons.

It was always going to be an uphill struggle for the visitors when they gave away a goal after only five minutes. Northwood won a free kick on the edge of the penalty area and Michael Murray curled his shot around the defensive wall and into the bottom corner.

The course of the game should have changed on 11 minutes when Joe Richardson had a free header on goal from six yards out but keeper Chris Haigh got down well to turn his effort around the post. From the corner Ryan Woodford had a free header which was hacked off the line to safety.

The home side doubled their lead on 29 minutes when Maxwell Holland, who was a danger on the left throughout the game, received the ball 25 yards out in the centre of the pitch and his first time shot flew into the net, with Rams keeper Tom Boyle rooted to the spot.

In the final stages of the first half Northwood had plenty of chances to extend their lead. Murray and Rob Hastings shot wide when well placed inside the penalty area and then Louis Stead lifted his shot over Boyle but into the side netting. More quick play through midfield put Hastings clear inside the box and his shot hit the outside of the post and bounced to safety.

The Rams had to survive another scare at the beginning of the second half before they came into the game more. Hastings pulled the ball back inside to Murray but a defender managed to deflect his goalbound shot from the edge of the penalty area over the crossbar.

Petersfield then started to fashion some chances. Michael Dixon shot from just inside the penalty area and his effort forced Haigh to claw it away from the target. Then Richardson got past his mark and shot from 25 yards out. Haigh had to throw himself to his left to keep his shot out and the follow up effort was well blocked.

On 69 minutes the home side almost restored their two goal lead when Stead received the ball on the edge of the penalty area and his curling shot hit the crossbar and bounced to safety.

The Rams pulled a goal back with five minutes remaining when Lewis Hyde picked up the ball on the right, cut inside the defence and fired an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net.

With Petersfield chasing an equaliser Northwood always looked a threat on the counter attack and Myles Stephenson was sent clear one-on-one with the keeper. His low shot when he got into the penalty area beat Boyle but it hit the outside of the post and went behind for a goal kick.

Petersfield: T Boyle, Hyde, Wain, Woodford (Gale), Sackman, Ford, Green, Richardson, Dixon (Neal), Briggs, Walker (Silver). Sub not used: O Searle.