Petersfield Town 0 Hamble Club 7: PETERSFIELD Town were outmuscled and over powered by a strong and, at times, unstoppable Hamble side on Tuesday night at Love Lane.

The visitors were able to boast many players among their ranks who have played at higher levels of non league football than the Wessex Premier Division in their past careers.

They simply had too much for the young Rams to cope with on the night as Hamble marauded their way to the three points in emphatic fashion.

Hamble got their first goal on nine minutes when a free kick from midfield was curled into the penalty area and Nathan Lynch got the slightest of touches to the ball with his head to guide it into the net.

Lynch got his and Hamble’s second goal on 22 minutes after a break down the left wing. The striker cut inside, held off a challenge and then smashed a low shot in at the near post.

Petersfield went close to scoring five minutes later when Will Essai won the ball on the left hand side of his own penalty area and he then worked the ball through the middle for Luke Walker to chase.

Walker drove forward with the ball until he reached the edge of the penalty area and when he tried to tuck his shot away it missed the target at the near post.

Hamble’s third goal came on 40 minutes from another break down the left hand side. This time the ball was pulled back to the edge of the penalty area to Brad Magookin, who then smashed an unstoppable shot into the top corner of the net.

The fourth goal came two minutes later when a defender was judged by the referee to have brought down substitute Nick Watts as he stretched to win the ball. Lynch completed his hat-trick when his penalty had far too much power on it for keeper Jarid Hixon to keep out.

Watts could have extended the visitors’ lead even further before half time as he had two good opportunities to score after swift attacking play by his team mates. However, both efforts went over the crossbar.

Watts did get on the scoresheet on 63 minutes when he took a corner from the left and as it curled into the six yard box, everyone missed it and it went straight into the net.

Goal number six came on 75 minutes when Petersfield lost possession in front of their own defence. Sam Wilson found space to fire off a fierce shot which Hixon got his hands to but the momentum on the shot took the ball into the net.

Petersfield were caught in possession again at the back on 84 minutes when Lynch eased a defender off the ball and then beat Hixon with a shot which went in at his near post.

To compound Petersfield’s misery, Harry Giles received his marching orders after picking up his second yellow card in the game just before the end.

Petersfield: Hixon, Elward, Kershaw, Kennedy (Kendall), Harvey, Brown, Powell, Giles, Bedford (Boxall), Walker, Essai (Tremlett). Subs not used: Geddes, Eaton.