Northwood 4 Petersfield Town 0: PETERSFIELD Town were soundly beaten after producing a dismal performance at Northwood on Saturday.

The Rams were soon behind after a bright start to the game and they produced their usual trick of conceding two goals in as many minutes just before half time to leave themselves no chance of getting anything from the game.

To compound the visitors’ misery further, after the match Northwood confessed they had eight new players in their matchday squad following a number of recent departures from the London club.

However, it was Petersfield who looked like strangers with some players looking completely lost or some simply not putting in the required effort needed to give yourself a chance of getting something from games like this.

The Rams did start brightly though and they looked the better side before allowing Northwood to take the lead with a soft goal.

Quick passing and movement allowed the home side to drive into the penalty area and the ball eventually found its way to Malachi McGovern, whose soft shot was helped on its way into the net by Petersfield keeper George Hill.

The Rams’ stopper was kept busy throughout the first half – he had to tip Alex De La Salle’s header over the crossbar and then gathered Kieran Barnes’ shot from 15 yards out at the second attempt.

Petersfield should have drawn level on 32 minutes when a home defender tried to head a long through ball back to his keeper but Billy Connor had anticipated what he would attempt to do.

The young striker took the ball around keeper Borta Loeches-Teixeira and rolled his shot towards goal but De La Salle had raced back to knock the ball behind for a corner – which Chogozie Agwuegbo then headed straight at the keeper.

Northwood made it 2-0 on 39 minutes when they won a penalty after their player was brought down as he tried to fire off a shot on goal. James Burgess smashed his spot kick straight down the middle of the goal.

It was 3-0 two minutes later when the ball was crossed in from the left and Myles Stephenson chested it down before turning and firing a low shot into the bottom corner of the net.

The game was over as a contest when the second half got under way and it drifted by with no real signs that Petersfield would pose a threat to Northwood’s lead.

Home substitute Fabian Brown went close shortly after the re-start but his shot went just wide of the far post when he tried to steer his effort past Hill.

The scoring was completed with ten minutes remaining and it came from a Petersfield corner, which none of the visitors could get on the end of as it rolled across the face of goal.

The home side moved the ball quickly out of defence and then from left to right where it found Brown. He cut in from the wing before bending his shot inside the far post from 25 yards out.

Jamie Doolan nearly set up Kieran Barnes with his cross to the far post but Mike Needham managed to block the effort on goal and then clear the danger.

The Petersfield defender was then shown a straight red card for a rash-looking tackle and in injury time Barnes went close again for Northwood but his shot flashed across the face of the goal.

Petersfield: Hill, Needham, Graham, Cripps, Woodford (M Smith), Wycherley, Agwuegbo (Tucker), Green, Andrews, Connor, Larbi.