Petersfield Town 0 Lymington Town 0: THIS was no bore draw at Love Lane on Saturday as both sides played their part in an entertaining Wessex Premier Division fixture.

Both were left feeling frustrated at the final whistle. For Petersfield they produced a solid defensive performance but just couldn’t quite unlock the Lymington defence – although the Rams went close to scoring twice in the final few minutes.

For Lymington, their week ended in frustration after starting so well – they were the first side to beat Blackfield and Langley in the league this season on the previous Saturday but were soundly beaten by Bashley and held by the Rams in their next two matches.

Overall it was a game of few clear cut chances for either side but Lymington had the better opportunities to take all three points from this game.

On 28 minutes Steve Walker had a free header from a corner on the right but he put it wide of the far post.

Owen Fee then had two shots from 25 yards out – the first sailed well over the crossbar after some good build up play on the left and the second one saw him receive the ball on the right hand edge of the penalty area but his rising shot went just over the top.

In injury time at the end of the first half, Petersfield half cleared their lines when the ball was crossed in from the right but another cross into the box was flicked on into the path of Manny Soetan, who fired his shot across goal and it rolled wide of the far post.

Lymington went closer still to scoring two minutes into the second half when a throw in from the left dropped into the near post area. A low header and then a follow up shot were both blocked on the line and Soetan then shot low through a crowd of players but his effort went straight at keeper Luke Eaton.

Ashley Jarvis then had a shot blocked on the line by Ed Plackett and Soetan fired over the goal when well positioned inside the right hand side of the penalty area.

The game then exploded into an exciting but tense finale. On 83 minutes Petersfield’s supporters thought they had nicked all three points when Josh Wycherley fizzed a low shot on goal from the edge of the box but it went wide of the post by a matter of inches.

On 88 minutes Lymington then went closer to snatching the win when a cross into the box saw the home defence stretched and substitute Nathan Gray sent a header towards goal which everyone could only watch as it bounced down off the underside of the crossbar and was eventually hacked clear to safety.

Two red cards were then shown by the referee as the game ticked into injury time when Petersfield’s Max Elward and Lymington’s Soetan got their marching orders for an off the ball altercation.

In the third minute of injury time Walker had a header from a free kick cleared off the line by Olly Kershaw and in the seventh minute of injury time Jarvis’ free kick from the edge of the penalty area looked like it had curled in but thankfully it went just the wrong side of the post.

Petersfield had a final opportunity to snatch a dramatic late winner in the ninth minute of injury time when they won a free kick on the right hand corner of the penalty area.

Luke Kendall tried to catch Ross Casey napping by firing his shot into the near post but the keeper just about managed to punch the ball behind for a corner, which there was no time to take.

Petersfield: Eaton, Gilbert, Kershaw, Elward, Plackett, Geddes, Keogh, Wycherley, W Essai (Small), Evans, Tremlett (Kendall). Subs not used: Thomas, Summerhill.