Petersfield Town 1 Bemerton Heath Harlequins 2: PETERSFIELD Town were left to rue a sloppy opening ten minutes as they fell short against high-flying Bemerton Heath Harlequins at Love Lane on Saturday.

The opening exchanges saw the visitors take a quickfire two-goal lead. With only five minutes played the Rams failed to clear a free kick, and Justin Bennett had the necessary time to slot the ball under Rams keeper Matt Petts.

A minute later a long throw was flicked on in the area and with the help of the wind it was met by an acrobatic Bennett effort that went past Petts.

The keeper was called into action again when Oliver Davies brought the ball down well and hit an effort towards the near post which Petts palmed wide.

Petersfield steadied the ship and Harry Tremlett went close when he lost his marker from a corner, but he could only flick the ball over the crossbar.

Mark Summerhill’s only change from the United Services Portsmouth match was bringing Will Webb back into the starting line-up.

And Webb was vital in halving the deficit, as he attacked the left flank, came inside and sent the ball across the face of goal for Will Essai to score.

With the confidence seeping back into Petersfield’s game, Essai showed his trademark close control and cut through the defence, but his final shot was poor. Petersfield produced a superb effort in the second half and made Bemerton look like the mid-table side.

Good pressure and tenacity gave Matt Low a good opportunity, and he found himself with just the keeper to beat. Bemerton keeper Patrick Creese made an excellent save, though, to deflect Low’s effort over the crossbar.

The chances began to dry up, but not the pressure. Low found himself in on goal again, but with little to no time to set himself he fired over the bar.

Petersfield continued to push, but they were unable to find an equaliser as they fell to a narrow defeat.