Egham Town 4 Petersfield Town 1: PETERSFIELD Town were given a lesson in how to finish off a Southern League game by promotion chasing Egham Town on Saturday.

The Rams raced into an early lead but they were outgunned in the second half by a side who could call on extra help from their bench to finish the game off.

Egham showed their intent to make a high tempo start to the match when they had their first chance in the opening minute. Chris Henry won the ball back from the kick-off and then tried his luck from 25 yards out but his effort dipped and curled wide of the target.

Petersfield then had a penalty claim turned down when Joe Briggs appeared to be bundled over inside the box and at the other end Bajram Pashaj worked himself some space on the edge of the penalty area and his low shot had to be beaten away by Rams keeper Luke Eaton.

The visitors then took the lead with eight minutes on the clock. A corner from the right was fired into the near post by Briggs and the cross was met by the head of Lewis Hyde, who knocked the ball down on to his leg and it then flew into the bottom corner of the net.

On 15 minutes Petersfield almost handed an equaliser to Egham when a defensive mix-up saw Jamie Ford try to head the ball home to Eaton but Henry latched on to the ball and with the keeper on the edge of the penalty area he tried to chip the ball into the empty net but his effort dropped well wide.

Andy Todd then had a half chance to stretch Petersfield’s lead when he chested down the ball in midfield and took the return pass. He pushed the ball past the defence but Egham keeper Jamie Norris was alert to the danger and came out quickly to smother the ball.

Petersfield had another lucky escape on 27 minutes when a corner from the right found Reece Yorke completely unmarked six yards out but he put his header over the crossbar.

The home side eventually netted an equaliser five minutes before half time when Petersfield lost the ball on the left hand side and Henry took the ball past two tackles along the byline before firing the ball low across the face of goal and Chris Moore had the simplest of tasks of knocking it home from a yard out.

The second half turned into something of a horror show for the Rams but it could have been different had they scored four minutes after the restart.

Jordan Neal latched on to a cross from the right by Olly Searle and as he tried to bundle the ball home Ryan Parsons did enough to block his effort behind for a corner.

Egham then introduced their new signing Goldy Capella and this ramped the pressure up on the Petersfield goal by a few more notches.

In his first contribution to the game he held off two challenges before firing a low shot just wide of the post and then Eaton had to push Pashaj’s shot around the post. From the resulting corner Moore’s touch almost took the ball into the net but Searle cleared it off the line.

Egham finally took the lead on 63 minutes when Capella outjumped everyone to win a cross from the left and although Ford tried to keep out his goalbound header, the Rams captain could only knock the ball into his own net off the underside of the crossbar.

Egham got their third goal eight minutes later from the penalty spot after substitute John Palfrey brought down Hassan Sulaiman inside the box. Pashaj coolly despatched his spot kick past Eaton.

With five minutes remaining Capella again beat the Petersfield defence to a ball on the left and he pulled it back to Pashaj, who shot over the crossbar from the edge of the penalty area.

Petersfield’s miserable day was summed up when Egham’s fourth goal on 88 minutes came from their own attack.

A free kick was cleared long down the pitch and Capella beat off the challenges of two markers before cutting inside from the left and unleashing a low shot across Eaton which found the far corner of the net.

Petersfield: Eaton, O Searle (Geddes), Wain, Giles (B Neal), Hyde, Ford, Richardson, Buckland (Palfrey), Todd, Briggs, J Neal. Subs not used: Needham, Young.