Petersfield Town 1 Northwood 2: NORTHWOOD ran out winners at Love Lane on Saturday in a game which strangely ended up with three red cards despite there being no real malice between the two sides.

The first half was an even affair with Petersfield edging the play but without really creating any clear cut chances on goal.

On 13 minutes Northwood had the first half chance of the game when a long ball forward was only partially cleared and the ball landed at the feet of James Burgess but his first time shot was easily gathered by keeper Aaron Bufton.

On 31 minutes the Rams went close when Alex Miroy’s quick pass out to the right found Ben Neal bursting forward but his low cross across the face of goal was out of the reach of any Petersfield players.

Three minutes later another low cross from Ben Neal found Dan Simmonds at the near post but his attempted flick towards goal bounced wide of the target.

At the start of the second half the home side had to make three goal line clearances to prevent Northwood from taking the lead – Mark Burgess’ backward header was hacked clear and then two follow up efforts were blocked at point blank range by Ben Buckland and Harry Giles.

However, Northwood took the lead on 54 minutes when Callum Wright was brought down inside the penalty area and Louis Stead sent Aaron Bufton the wrong way with his spot kick.

It nearly got worse for the Rams just two minutes later when a corner from the left ran to Mark Burgess at the far post but he put his free shot on goal into the side netting.

The visitors did then double their lead on 65 minutes after winning a free kick on the edge of the penalty area. Stead’s shot went through the wall and Bufton could only help the ball on its way into the roof of the net.

On 79 minutes James Budden’s header from a corner was punched off the line by Bufton and then the first two red cards were shown – first to Frankie Jones for his second yellow card in the match and then to Petersfield substitute Ryan Woodford for retaliating to Jones’ tackle on him.

With six minutes remaining the visitors went close again when Stead cut in from the right hand side and fired off a low shot but Bufton got down well to prevent him from completing his hat-trick.

Petersfield did pull a goal back in the third minute of injury time when Callum Coker was brought down as he went through on goal and Mark Burgess was shown a red card for the challenge. Simmonds sent the keeper the wrong way with his spot kick.

The Rams had a final chance to snatch a point after this when a deep cross into the box found Coker but his looping header dropped wide of the goal.

Petersfield: Bufton, Buckland, Graham, Giles (Judd), Page, Searle, B Neal (Coker), Green, Miroy (Woodford), Simmonds, Whittingham. Subs not used: Needham, Wedlake.