Winchester City 1 Petersfield Town 1: A BATTLING and spirited performance from Petersfield earned them a replay in this FA Trophy derby clash on Saturday.

The tie brought them up against former manager Ian Saunders, goalkeeping coach Jamie Cotton and players Joe Briggs, Howard Neighbour and Jason Silver.

And the Rams rose to the occasion – battling back from going a goal down, their resolute defending kept the home side out and they could have snatched a break away winner towards the end of the game.

Winchester spent a lot of the game in the final third of the field and they put the Petersfield goal under early pressure, going close to taking the lead on 13 minutes.

A free kick was charged down but the ball was crossed back into the box by Adam Roberts and Craig Feeney’s flick on from close range forced new Petersfield keeper Matthew Petts into making an acrobatic save to keep the ball out.

Feeney then went close again when he got in down the left hand edge of the penalty area and his low shot was partially blocked by defender Shawn Benjamin before it looped up into Petts’ hands.

Petts then made a good save down low from Briggs before the home side took the lead after 23 minutes. A cross to the far post found Robbie Matthews unmarked and he powered his header into the roof of the net.

However, the Rams drew level again six minutes later when the ball was worked forward down the left and Matthews made a mess of his attempted clearance. Dan Simmonds nipped in behind him to win the ball and he then sent a looping shot over keeper Lewis Noice and into the far corner of the net.

Simmonds tested the home keeper again on 38 minutes when he tried his luck with a free kick from 35 yards out but it went straight at Noice.

Ben Neal went close to scoring two minutes before half time when Callum Coker flicked the ball over the home defence to the right hand side. Neal cut inside and then tried to beat Noice at his near post but he sliced his effort wide of the target.

The second half started with a strong penalty shout for the home side when Roberts went down under a challenge on the edge of the box but the referee waved away the protests.

Petersfield looked a threat on the break and the perfect cross was delivered across the face of goal but no one was on hand to tuck the ball home.

On 53 minutes Sam Wilson had a shot which had to be beaten away by Petts but the ball rolled to Briggs and after steadying himself he tried to beat the Rams keeper at his near post but Petts got down quickly to turn the shot into the side netting.

Matthews fizzed a shot just over the crossbar for Winchester and at the other end a long ball put Simmonds clear into some space but his low shot was easy for Noice to gather.

Nerves were jangling for both sides late on and both had chances to win the tie. Neighbour came off the bench to cross the ball towards Stuart Green at the far post but he didn’t connect with the ball when he

attempted a shot.

Simmonds went close again for Petersfield with eight minutes remaining when he got the ball in midfield and cut in from the left before curling an effort which just dipped the wrong side of the crossbar.

Petersfield: Petts, Searle, Graham, Cripps, Benjamin, Geddes (Smith), B Neal (Corsaro), Giles, Coker (Kendall), Simmonds, Miroy.