Alton 5 Petersfield Town 1: A LACKLUSTRE display from the Rams saw them return empty-handed from their trip to Alton on December 22 as they went down to a 5-1 defeat in this East Hampshire derby.

In front of a good crowd, there was little sign of a one-sided scoreline in the early exchanges as, if anything, the Rams had more of the play, moving the ball well on the artificial surface.

In the tenth minute their first real chance came with a Michael Wright shot that went narrowly wide.

Alton began to ask questions of the Petersfield defence and, having survived a couple of scares, the Rams fell behind in the 17th minute when a Scott Sanderson shot took a deflection to give Rams keeper Aaron Smith no chance.

Alton doubled their lead in the 35th minute when former Ram Max Smith unleashed a powerful shot from 25 yards that also took a deflection, again giving Aaron Smith no chance.

The Rams continued to have plenty of possession but were unable to get anything on target to leave the home side in a comfortable position at the interval.

Any hopes of a Rams comeback in the second half were soon dashed as the home side added further goals in the 53rd minute through Sanderson, and the 57th minute through Jack Chandler.

The Rams did pull one back in the 75th minute when Josh Sheehan made a strong run to set up Will Essai, who calmly slotted home.

Alton had the final word when Gavin Muir found Matthew Bunyan, who had impressed throughout, and he fired past Aaron Smith to record an emphatic victory.

There was some comfort for the Rams as other results broadly went their way, but they need a swift reversal of fortunes to get their season back on track.

In a bad week for the Rams their reserves side crashed out of the John Stimpson Memorial Trophy on December 20, as they fell to a comprehensive 5-1 defeat away at United Services Portsmouth Reserves.