Petersfield Town 1 Corsham Town 0: PETERSFIELD Town booked their place in the Second Qualifying Round of The Buildbase FA Vase with victory at Love Lane on Saturday.

The scoreline suggests this was a tight encounter and the Western League Division 1 visitors pushed Petersfield hard in search of an equaliser during the second half.

But the Rams looked solid at the back and rarely did keeper Matt Shortt look to be in any danger of conceding, and better finishing at the other end would have produced a more convincing scoreline.

But the Rams will take wins in which ever form they come in at the moment – especially as Saturday saw them keep their first clean sheet in 71 matches.

Who would have guessed at the time that after the last clean sheet – against Hanwell Town in a 2-0 win on March 30, 2016 – that such a barren run in the club’s recent history was about to begin.

Petersfield made a lively start to this game – after just three minutes Marcus Bedford had space to turn on the edge of the box but he put his shot just wide of the post.

Three minutes later Luke Walker picked up a loose ball after Lewis Russell’s shot was blocked. He took the ball from deep in his own half into the Corsham penalty area before flashing a shot at goal which brushed the side netting.

On 21 minutes Bedford battled his way past the left back before crossing the ball to Sean Evans. His shot was blocked and although Harry Tremlett picked up the loose ball he could not thread his way past his markers and Corsham cleared the danger.

At the other end, Corsham created a half chance midway through the first half and although Chay Forester managed to fire his shot through a crowd of players, Shortt got down low to make an easy save.

Will Essai then cut in from the left and had his rising shot tipped over by keeper Christopher Snoddy. From the resulting corner a defender headed his attempted clearance straight up in the air and when it came down Evans was underneath it and Snoddy had to dive to his right to push the Petersfield man’s effort away from goal.

On 32 minutes Olly Kershaw burst forward down the left before taking the ball inside the penalty area but he hit his shot straight at Snoddy.

A minute later Petersfield were ahead when Essai threaded the ball through for Walker and as he took the ball around Snoddy the keeper brought him down. Luke Kendall fired his spot kick low under the keeper’s dive to the left.

Petersfield went close to doubling their lead two minutes after the interval. Bedford picked up the ball on the halfway line and surged forward into the penalty area but Snoddy beat away his shot.

The referee almost gave Corsham a route back into the game when he got in the way of a Petersfield pass as they looked to break forward.

The ball ran fortuitously for the visitors, who broke down the right and Russell got in between two defenders to meet the cross and his shot was blocked by Shortt’s legs.

A downward header from a corner then had the home defence scrambling to clear the ball. The follow up effort was blocked and then a quick clearance put Walker clear but he fired his shot into the side netting.

The visitors thought they had drawn level midway through the second half when they had the ball in the net. A cross into the box was initially dealt with by Shortt but when it came quickly back into the penalty area Callum Elms was on hand to head the ball home but the linesman’s flag was up straight away for offside.

On 70 minutes a corner from the right was knocked back across the goal into the path of Edward Baldwin but he fired his effort high and wide of the target.

With five minutes remaining Walker went close to sealing the victory when he latched on to a ball over the top of the defence and spotted Snoddy racing off his line.

The Rams’ striker tried to chip the ball into the empty net but the keeper was just tall enough to get his hands to the ball and keep it out.

Petersfield went closer still two minutes later when Bedford cut inside along the byline before pulling the ball back to substitute Joe Boxall.

His shot from ten yards out was blocked and the ball rolled to Bedford who side stepped a tackle but he hit his shot from close range straight at Snoddy.

Petersfield: Shortt, Johnson, Kershaw, Tremlett, Kennedy, Elward, Bedford, Kendall, Evans (Boxall), Walker, Essai. Subs not used: Newman, Thomas, Eaton.