Histon 2 Petersfield Town 1: ON THE face of it this could well prove to be one of the key results which knocked a big nail into Petersfield Town’s relegation coffin when the season is reviewed at the end of the campaign.

Giving away six points to the only other side close to the Rams at the bottom of the Division 1 Central table could well be seen as a fatal blow.

However, John Robson’s side can take a few scraps of encouragement from a game where they were more than equal to their hosts for large parts of it, particularly in the second half as his side pushed forward in search of at least an equaliser.

On another day it might have been different – the Rams could rightly curse their luck again over one or two decisions by the match officials and a little more potency going forward and they would have left Cambridgeshire with something to show for their efforts.

It was a game of very few chances between two sides who showed why they are down at the bottom of the table. Both looked nervy at times and both struggled to fashion any real chances on goal throughout the 90 minutes.

Histon went close to breaking the deadlock on 12 minutes when Matty Allan’s looping header from a cross from the left hit the crossbar.

The home side got their noses in front on 36 minutes when a free kick from the half way line was floated up towards the penalty area. Ben Yeomans held off a few challenges and despite being forced out wide he hit a shot across keeper George Hill and it went inside the far post.

Most of the play during the game was in the midfield area as both sides probed the other looking for openings.

Histon took what proved to be a crucial advantage when they went 2-0 up on 69 minutes. Tommy Wright met a corner from the right before anyone else and he diverted the ball at the near post into the net.

Petersfield should have had a penalty on 75 minutes when Billy Connor caught keeper Sam Roach in possession. As he took the ball away from him to try to fire off a shot, Connor was tugged back at least three times by Roach but the referee waved away what looked to be a clear cut penalty.

Allan almost got a third a goal for Histon when he took the ball past the Petersfield defence but he fired high and wide of the target when well placed inside the penalty area.

Petersfield pulled a goal back with ten minutes remaining when substitute Chigozie Agwuegbo pulled the ball back to Connor who was sent crashing to the floor by a rash challenge. Matt Andrews buried the spot kick in the bottom corner of the net.

The Rams kept pushing forward after scoring but they were unable to create another opening to draw level late on.

Petersfield: Hill, Searle, Graham, Green, Needham (Harvey), Medway, Larbi, Tucker (Palfrey), Andrews, Connor, Cripps (Agwuegbo).