Petersfield Town 2 Hayling United 0: PETERSFIELD Town left it late to beat Hayling United and book their place in the third round of the Portsmouth Senior Cup on Wednesday night.

Extra time was beckoning when Ryan Woodford fired home with the clock ticking on to 90 minutes and Joe Briggs made sure of the result five minutes into time added on.

The Rams made hard work of what on paper should have been a routine victory against a Hampshire Premier League Division 1 side ranked four levels below the Southern League outfit.

Credit must go to the visitors for matching Petersfield with their play throughout the tie and it could have been a different story if they had tucked away their big chance to score with four minutes remaining.

But both sides lacked a cutting edge up front and it didn’t look like anyone was going to break the deadlock right up until the last moments of the match.

Petersfield had a hatful of half chances to score while Hayling had to bide their time and wait for the few openings they managed to create.

On 20 minutes, Mike McEnery got clear down the left and as Hayling keeper Lewis Jordan came flying out off his line to try and block his cross, the ball ricocheted across the penalty area towards Michael Dixon but Matt Kirby managed to block the ball from reaching him.

Three minutes later a cross from the left was cleared straight into the path of Stuart Green, whose point blank shot was blocked by the legs of Jordan and he blasted his follow up effort over the crossbar from three yards out.

Ryan Woodford’s cross from the right was glanced wide by Lewis Hyde’s header and on 31 minutes Hayling had their first half chance when Dale Camp’s effort from 25 yards out had Matt Shortt scrambling across his line but it dropped wide.

Jordan almost spilled Joe Briggs’ cross into his own net before another Briggs cross found Dixon on the edge of the six yard box but his audacious attempt at a back heel went well wide.

Dixon created another chance when he took a loose ball around his marker before firing his shot well over before Hayling closed the half out with two chances.

The first saw Andy Brown hit a shot from the edge of the box with the outside of his boot which swerved wide. Then good build up play on the right sent Ryan Jennings clear before he cut inside and tried to beat Shortt with a flicked shot but the Rams keeper got a hand to it and gathered the ball at the second attempt.

Green should have fired Petersfield in front three minutes into the second half when he was put clear on the left hand edge of the penalty area. As he tried to take the ball around Jordan the keeper partially blocked the ball but it ran loose and with the goal at his mercy Green fired horribly wide of the target.

As the match wore on even the chances started to dry up as both sides showed no signs of being able to break the deadlock. On 68 minutes Briggs had to work hard to get some space on the left and after holding off two challenges he crossed low and forced Jordan to dive at his near post to keep the ball out.

Petersfield went close on 80 minutes when substitute Gary Norgate pulled the ball back from the right into the path of Woodford and Jordan had to dive to his left to keep the shot out.

Then came Hayling’s big opportunity to cause a major cup upset. A quick break from midfield saw them outnumbering the home defence and substitute Brett Galloway raced clear down the left. As he got inside the penalty area he decided to go for glory and shoot but his effort went wide. Had he looked up Ryan Harrison was completely unmarked on the penalty spot and was better placed to score.

The Rams made the visitors pay for missing this chance when they finally took the lead just as the stopwatch ticked over to 90 minutes played. Petersfield broke down the left and Norgate put his cross low across the face of the goal and Woodford ran in to smash the ball into the net.

Petersfield doubled their lead five minutes into injury time when they were awarded a free kick about 25 yards out just to the right of centre. Briggs curled his shot around the wall and in off the far post.

Petersfield: Shortt, Hyde, Read (Thompson), Woodford, Sackman (Searle), Ford, Briggs, Green, Dixon, McEnery, Cope (Norgate). Subs not used: Essai, Ender.