Petersfield Town 3 Histon 4: SEVEN goals, two red cards, a thrilling comeback from 3-0 down – but still Petersfield Town ended up on the losing side against Histon last Tuesday night.

The outcome typified the way the Rams’ season has gone to date but they should be credited for the fighting spirit they showed to get the score back to 3-3 after being 3-0 down inside the first 17 minutes.

Histon went in front on five minutes when Petersfield failed to clear a corner floated into their box and Matty Allan was on hand to sweep the ball home from close range.

Nick Awford received his marching orders after just 12 minutes for what appeared to be a fair tackle but the visiting side surrounded the referee and protested furiously until he showed the Petersfield man a red card.

Histon got their second goal on 15 minutes when a cross from the left went across the face of the goal and James Carman slid in at the far post to turn the ball home.

Histon’s third goal followed two minutes later when a ball crossed in from the left was cleared into the midfield area and Shaun Jenkins hit his first time shot straight into the net from some 25 yards out.

The visitors were reduced to ten men five minutes before half time when Lawrence Larbi was put clean through and keeper Niall Conroy raced to the edge of the penalty area before taking him out completely. Zach Nicholson-Pibworth got his debut off to a great start by firing the resulting free kick straight into the net from 25 yards out.

Histon were almost out of sight ten minutes into the second period when a free kick from the right was curled towards goal and although it beat keeper Jamie Bray, the ball bounced back off of the crossbar.

Petersfield got their second goal on 72 minutes when a short corner was taken on the right and the ball was eventually played inside into the path of Will Essai, who ran on to the pass before hitting a low shot into the net.

On 82 minutes the visitors should have scored again when a free kick was crossed towards the far post and Adam Capel tried to back header the ball over the line but his effort went narrowly wide.

Two minutes later and Petersfield were back on level terms when Adam Cripps broke down the left wing before pulling his cross back into the path of Matt Andrews, who hit his shot first time into the top corner of the net.

Just when it seemed Petersfield had turned a corner they reversed back around it again a minute after equalising. Allan cut in from the left, took the ball past two defenders before hitting home a low shot at the near post.

Petersfield: Bray, Searle, Graham, Giles, Sackman, Medway, Larbi (Connor), Awford, Andrews, Nicholson-Pibworth, Essai (Cripps). Subs not used: Tucker, Wedlake, Geddes.