Ringwood Town 2 Petersfield Town 1: THE RAMS went down to their first league defeat of 2019 on Saturday when they suffered the agony of losing in stoppage time on their visit to Ringwood Town.

Strong gusty winds throughout made good football very difficult but both sides did their best to pass the ball around. Play was even in the first half with few clear-cut chances.

Petersfield keeper Nick Hall was called into action a couple of times but wasn’t seriously troubled, while the best opportunities for the Rams involved Matt Rowland, who was the subject of two penalty appeals, only for both to be turned down.

Rowland went close in the 37th minute when he worked his way through, but his attempt to lob the goalkeeper went over the bar.

The Rams made the perfect start to the second half, taking the lead in the 48th minute when Rowland steered the ball home.

For the next half hour the Rams looked secure and appeared to be heading for victory, but in the 78th minute Ringwood equalised when Petersfield’s defence failed to clear a ball played across the box and Jamie Kemp scored from close range.

From then on Ringwood posed more of a threat, but as the game went into added time it looked like the Rams would come away with a point. However, the sucker punch arrived when Lee Vint fired home after a goalmouth scramble to give Ringwood victory.

The defeat leaves the Rams in 13th place in the Wessex Division 1 table.