Newport IOW 0 Petersfield Town 2: PETERSFIELD Town continued their march up the Sydenhams Wessex League Division One table with a hard-fought victory on the Isle of Wight on Saturday afternoon.

The game started in dramatic fashion, with referee Harry Redman brandishing his red card only three minutes in. Petersfield got away through the middle, closing in on goal. Last man Lewis Wright made a challenge but made no contact with the ball, and the referee sent him off.

The Rams took the lead when Marvin Orepo bundled the ball in on 18 minutes. Ryan Kennedy latched on to a lobbed through ball and found Orepo in the middle to score.

The visitors almost doubled their lead in the second half when Harry Bedford’s looping effort was parried behind by Gary Streeter.

Kennedy put the game to bed in the 69th minute when he doubled Petersfield’s lead. Alone outside the box, he hit the ball sweetly with the outside of his boot and exquisitely curled it into the goal.

Newport almost pulled a goal back when a header from a corner crashed against the crossbar before Petersfield scrambled the ball away.

The Rams nearly scored a third late on when Jake Bourton showed good vision to pick out Michael Wright. Wright cut inside and passed to substitute Jordan Neal, who had his thunderous effort tipped on to the bar and away.