AFC Portchester 5 Petersfield Town 1: PETERSFIELD crashed out of the Russell Cotes Cup at Portchester last Tuesday night.

Defensive mistakes didn’t help their cause as the home side, managed by former Rams boss Ian Saunders, romped into a 4-0 lead in the first 40 minutes of the game.

The visitors contributed to their own downfall on many of those first half goals but they showed improvement as an attacking threat as the game wore on.

Portchester took the lead on 11 minutes when Rob Evans crossed the ball into the feet of former Petersfield striker Andy Todd and he slotted the ball home.

The second goal came on 28 minutes from a long punt forward which keeper Luke Eaton raced outside his box to try and deal with but when he made a mess of his attempted clearance, Todd was on hand to pick up the ball and lob it into the unguarded net.

Todd turned provider three minutes later when he played a one-two with Bobby Scott which allowed his teammate to run on and tuck the ball home from six yards out.

The fourth goal came following a poor decision from Ed Plackett. Rather than trying to clear the ball to safety on the edge of the box he tried to feed it back to Eaton but the pass was under hit and Scott took advantage of the error to intercept the ball before firing it into the net.

Petersfield pulled a goal back on the stroke of half time when they broke forward on the right and when the ball was played across goal, Jordan Neal was on hand to apply the finishing touch from close range.

In the second half both sides traded chances in what became a tighter contest between the two teams but Portchester got the only goal of the half on 68 minutes.

Brandon Miller broke into the penalty area from the left and he was allowed to dispatch his shot past Eaton and into the bottom corner of the net.

Petersfield: Eaton, Fagelman, Geddes, Tremlett, Plackett, Evans (Kendall), Walker, Wycherley, J Neal, Connor (Boxall), W Essai (Thomas). Sub not used: Collins.