Ashford Town 1 Petersfield Town 0: WHEN your luck’s not in it’s simply not in and that was the case again for Petersfield Town with another defeat on Saturday.

The scoreline should have read 1-1 after Stuart Green robbed home keeper Tyler Tobin of the ball and rolled it into the empty net but only one man in the ground thought it wasn’t a goal – and unfortunately that was the match referee Jim Paterson.

The home side dominated the opening 45 minutes and the Rams could have few arguments about being behind by the time the interval was reached.

On 19 minutes Dan Fleming sent a shot towards goal and keeper Lewis Watch spilled an easy-looking save but he made up for his error immediately by making a fine save to his right when Tommy Brunton tried to smash home the follow up.

Two minutes later Samad Kazi went closer to scoring when he had a free header at the far post from a corner but Josh Wycherley blocked the ball with his legs before clearing the danger.

On 37 minutes Max Herbert was put clear down the left and he outpaced Matt Andrews but he hit a rising shot high and wide of the target after making his way into the penalty area. Mark Bitmead then headed straight at Watch after being left unmarked at a corner.

The only goal of the game came two minutes before half time when a free kick from 25 yards out was initially saved by Watch and two follow up efforts were blocked by the Petersfield defence but the ball eventually ran to Brunton who slammed his shot into the net from eight yards out.

Ashford nearly doubled their lead in the first minute of the second half after good play down the left. Bayley Mummery cut in from the left and hit a curling effort which dropped just wide of the far post.

The home side went close again on 62 minutes when after another attack down the left the ball was pulled back to Brunton but his shot was blocked as he tried to dispatch the ball into the net.

Petersfield slowly edged their way back into the game as the second half wore on and they had their first chance on goal after 63 minutes.

Billy Connor latched on to a long through ball and was partially tackled as he drove into the penalty area. He got back up again and then fired a shot towards the near post which Tobin lost for a moment but he had got enough of his body to it to divert the ball behind for a corner.

Max Smith had the ball in the net after a flowing Petersfield move but it was ruled out for offside and Ashford had a goal chalked off for the same reason after Bitmead put the ball home.

On 74 minutes Bitmead had another chance when Jay Jay Tucker got nowhere near a high ball played up to the edge of the box and when it dropped the Ashford man ballooned his effort well over the crossbar.

Two minutes later Petersfield went close again when Matt Graham won the ball in midfield and put substitute Lawrence Larbi clear down the left. He played the ball inside to Connor on the edge of the penalty area, who found space to turn and shoot but his effort was deflected wide of the target.

Then came the controversial finale to the game as the clock ticked into the 90th minute. Larbi played a long ball forward for Green to chase and it looked like Tobin had gathered it safely on the edge of the penalty area.

But as he went to ground he spilled the ball, Green toe-poked it away from him before curling the ball into the empty net. However, the referee judged that the Rams’ midfielder had pushed the keeper to get to the ball – a view not shared by anyone else from either side who had a closer view of the incident than he did.

Petersfield: Watch, Giles (Cooper), Graham, Cripps, Wycherley, Tucker, M Smith, Green, D Neal (Codling), Connor, Andrews (Larbi).