PETERSFIELD Town’s run of 13 games unbeaten was ended by a determined Paulsgrove side last Tuesday night in the Portsmouth Senior Cup, as the Rams fell to a 2-0 home defeat to exit the competition.

Mark Summerhill chose to make multiple changes to his squad, giving appearances to reserve players and a debut for Charlie Merritt.

The visitors took charge of the contest in an explosive first five minutes.

Paulsgrove took less than a minute to open the scoring through the impressive Moulay Osman.

He made the chance himself using his strength to hold off the Petersfield defence before slotting past the unlucky Rams keeper Matt Petts.

The Rams were undone three minutes later as Osman used his strength again before laying an inch-perfect through ball to John Cripps and from outside the area his shot found the top right-hand corner, clipping the underside of the bar on its way in.

The home side were stunned and tried to mount a comeback. The combination of good passing and fast-paced runs forced the Paulsgrove keeper into a good stop.

Paulsgrove came to the Lane determined and made it hard for Petersfield as their only chances were long-range speculative efforts. The best of the bunch came from Harry Bedford, who forced the keeper to make a difficult save.

The hosts went close to scoring again early in the second half when Bedford’s swerving free kick was flicked just wide at the far post.

Marvin Orepo was Petersfield’s stand-out player on the night, covering most of the pitch. However, Paulsgrove kept him relatively quiet.

The visitors tried to increase their lead and a decent shot was heading for the bottom corner but was met by Petts with a routine save.

Paulsgrove’s tails were up and Reece Lewis was the next to go close to scoring when he struck a powerful effort into Petts’ gloves.

The defeat means Petersfield have one less cup to compete in in an already-congested fixture list.