Sholing 3 Petersfield Town 0: PETERSFIELD Town’s involvement in cup competitions for this season came to an end at Sholing last Tuesday night.

The Rams conceded three second half goals to be eliminated from the Sydenhams Wessex League Cup – a competition they reached the final of during the previous two times they took part in it.

In fairness Sholing could have racked up a much higher scoreline as the Petersfield goal led a charmed life for much of the evening but the visitors produced a battling performance to ensure they stayed in the match for the first hour.

Rams keeper Luke Eaton was kept busy throughout the match as Sholing put the visitors under a lot of pressure.

Dan Mason hit two early efforts over the top and Byron Mason beat Eaton to a corner but directed his header over the crossbar.

Alex Sawyer then got in behind the Petersfield defence. His first shot was blocked by Eaton’s legs and the follow up effort beat the keeper but was hacked away off the line.

Kevin Brewster curled a free kick just wide but then in a rare attack at the other end, Josh Wycherley chested down a clearance from a corner on the edge of the box and his shot was gathered by keeper Ryan Gosney at the second attempt.

Byron Mason had two more chances to break the deadlock before half time. His first opportunity was a header inside the six yard box but he was denied by Eaton’s fine reaction save and his second came from a corner on the left but it hit the crossbar and bounced away to safety.

Dan Miller then went close for the home side with a header from Brewster’s cross but it bounced just wide of the goal.

Sholing kept the pressure on at the beginning of the second half when the ball was worked to Sawyer, whose shot from inside the penalty area smashed against the underside of the crossbar and was then cleared by the Petersfield defence.

Marvin McLean was then denied by Eaton’s save on his own goal line and it was looking like this could be a game where nothing would go in for the home side and Petersfield could snatch a goal on the break.

The visitors got their chance on 61 minutes when a quick clearance and good passing put Harry Tremlett racing clear from the half way line. He chased down the ball and took it inside the penalty area before hitting a shot across Gosney but it went just wide of the far post.

That proved to be a costly miss as Sholing got their noses in front after 68 minutes. They won a free kick on the left hand edge of the box and when Brewster curled the ball towards goal, it went through a crowd of players and Eaton seemed to lose track of the flight of the ball and it bounced into the far corner of the net.

It was 2-0 five minutes later when Byron Mason had a shot blocked by Eaton from just inside the penalty area but McLean was following up and dispatched the rebound low into the net.

The home side wrapped up the scoring on 76 minutes when McLean was brought down by Sean Evans inside the penalty area and Brewster sent Eaton diving the wrong way with his spot kick.

Sawyer almost got a fourth goal for Sholing on 86 minutes when he picked up the ball 25 yards out and smashed his shot past Eaton but it crashed against the crossbar and was cleared to safety.

Petersfield: Eaton, Fagelman, Gilbert, Elward (Mortimer), Wycherley, Evans, Walker (S Neal), Kendall, Connor, Thomas (Widger), Tremlett. Sub not used: Collins.