PETERSFIELD Town exited the Sydenhams Wessex League Cup in the third round last Tuesday night after slipping to a hard-fought defeat at high-flying Premier Division outfit Hamble Club.
New arrival Lewis Tosdevine made his full debut at right back for the visitors.
Hamble were in second place in the Wessex Premier Division before the game, and made only one change from their league match on the previous Saturday.
The home side started confidently and John McKie clipped the crossbar from a free kick.
The first half was very competitive and both sides made life difficult for each other, which resulted in hopeful punts upfield.
Jordan Geddes came close to putting the visitors in front. Tosdevine lofted a cross to the back post, which Geddes headed down, but his effort was cleared off the line and his rebound was blocked by the Hamble keeper.
Heading into added time in the first half, Hamble could have taken the lead.
An effort was heading towards goal, but Rams keeper Martin Gardiner got back in time and clawed it off the line to add to another good save he had made earlier on.
The Rams started the second half brightly and soon took the lead through a Will Webb goal only two minutes into the half.
Ryan Kennedy hit a raking crossfield ball to Webb on the edge of the area, who showed impressive strength and determination while he was being pushed and fired the ball into the top right-hand corner.
Petersfield’s lead only lasted for nine minutes. Sean Burton was caught in the corner and the ball was fed into McKie, whose acrobatic effort beat Gardiner.
The Rams pushed for a winner and nearly took the lead in controversial circumstances.
A quickly taken free kick caught the home team out and left Marvin Orepo and Hamble’s Luke Deacon racing for the ball, with Deacon getting there just before Orepo.
The hosts then started to put pressure on Petersfield and it soon paid off.
Jordan Ragguette won the ball in the middle of the park and worked his way into a scoring position. He hit the ball from range and it took a deflection which caught Gardiner out and found the back of the net.
Petersfield threw everything at Hamble in pursuit of an equaliser.
Olly Purser flicked in a cross which went past the defenders and found Josh Chipps on the six-yard box.
Chipps missed the target, though, as he fired the ball over the crossbar.