Petersfield Town 2 Cowes Sports 0: THE WAIT is over – after 112 days, Petersfield Town have finally won a league game in the Wessex Premier Division.

Saturday afternoon’s three points for the Rams in horrendous weather conditions at the SureFix Home Improvements Stadium means they have completed the double over their visitors from the Isle of Wight this season.

Petersfield’s last win came at Cowes on October 21 and the result not only took their points tally for the campaign into double figures, but it ended a run of eight league defeats in a row.

The fact that the home side went in at the interval still at 0-0 was something of a surprise to most people watching the game as Cowes had chance after chance during the first half.

After only five minutes, the visitors broke forward quickly from a Petersfield free kick into their own penalty area and when Michael McEnery picked up the ball inside the box his shot was partially parried by keeper Luke Eaton, who then had to race back to flick the loose ball away from the goal line before it went in.

Six minutes later Connor Furmidge received the ball in the centre after good work down the left and although his shot dipped and swerved towards the goal it eventually dropped wide of the target.

Harry Dye then had a free header from a corner on the right but he guided the ball over the top and a free kick from the left found Callum Chase inside the box and his effort glanced the crossbar as it flew over the top.

Petersfield’s defence appeared to go missing again when James Wykes’ ball found John McKie and his shot from the left hand side of the penalty area hit the outside of the post and stayed out of the net.

Wykes then broke clear down the middle but sent his shot wide of the far post and Furmidge cut inside from the right wing and sent a shot towards goal that Eaton had to flick over the crossbar with a fine one handed save.

Petersfield only registered their first chance of note five minutes before half time when Billy Connor took the ball forward with a run past three challenges and the ball eventually ran through to Will Essai on the edge of the penalty area but he pulled his shot well wide.

Before half time Furmidge and McKie both had half chances when they got the ball inside the penalty area but both visiting players put their efforts wide of the target.

The second half got under way in increasingly difficult conditions but both sides kept trying to play football in the driving rain and on a pitch which was becoming increasingly muddy.

Petersfield got the early breakthrough they were looking for when they took the lead on 50 minutes. The ball was worked forward to Harry Tremlett inside the penalty area and as he tried to turn inside his marker, the Cowes defender kicked the Rams midfielder to send him tumbling and a penalty was awarded.

Danny Thompson made no mistake with the spot kick by sending Cowes keeper Ed Hatt diving the wrong way with his penalty.

It got better for the Rams just four minutes later when they doubled their lead. A corner from the right went past the far post and when Thompson hooked the ball back across goal, Jordan Geddes was in the right place to power his header home into the roof of the net from eight yards out.

Surprisingly there were few chances of note after this – something that was largely due to the heavy rain that was now falling and the fact Cowes were unable to fashion the kind of chances they had had strings of in the first half.

Their best opportunity to set up a grandstand finish came in the 90th minute when Eaton was forced to try and punch a free kick into the six yard box clear. The ball ran to the edge of the box and when another shot came in the ball had to be hacked clear off the line by the Petersfield defence.

As the same attack developed further the ball broke to McKie at the far post, who was clear of the home defence but he hit his shot horribly high and wide of the target.

Petersfield: Eaton, Llewelyn, Holford (Kershaw), Tayler, Kennedy, Geddes, Keogh, Thompson, Connor (Evans), Tremlett (Plackett), W Essai. Subs not used: Fagelman, Hurlstone.