Winchester Ladies III 3 Petersfield Ladies 3: PETERSFIELD Hockey Club’s ladies’ first team continued their unbeaten start to the season as they drew 3-3 at Winchester Ladies’ third team on Saturday.

The visitors had ten players for the match, three of whom were making their debuts.

Winchester immediately put Petersfield under pressure and found plenty of space around the pitch with a player overload. It wasn’t long before Winchester were making decisive attacking runs into the Petersfield half, forcing the visitors back into their own D.

Within five minutes the hosts had a flurry of attacks, working the Petersfield defenders hard and keeping the keeper on her toes. Their persistence paid off in the form of short corners.

Sebastian-Todd picked off the receiving striker at the top of the D, but the ball deflected in the tackle and fell opportunistically for another Winchester attacker who found support on the back post, beating the agile P Jones in goal.

For the first 25 minutes the game carried on in a similar manner. Petersfield succumbed to wave upon wave of attacks from the well-drilled Winchester team.

B Jones and Walton protected the edge of the circle tirelessly, picking off attacking runners and feeding the ball out to Eames in the centre to ease the pressure. Sebastian-Todd also worked hard and drove Winchester’s attackers into the corners.

Despite Petersfield’s best efforts Winchester managed to find the backboard once again to lead 2-0 at half time.

The visitors altered their formation at half time. Easton moved back into a central role, Eames dropped in defensively and Alex O’Kelly swapped with Walton on the right-hand side of the defence.

Petersfield soon found themselves camped out in the Winchester D. A Leach wasted no time finding a foot in the D to win a short corner for Petersfield. A saved shot at goal deflected to R Leach who neatly tucked it into the right-hand corner of the net.

The visitors started to find their rhythm and link passages of play together, and A Leach and Anna O’Kelly became a nightmare to defend against on the left wing.

During one slick run A Leach slipped the ball to Easton on the edge of the D. Easton found space between the defenders and hit the ball to the back post where R Leach flicked her stick and tipped the ball in to level the scores.

Winchester were next to score, breaking down the defence and inviting a foul in the Petersfield D. Some well-executed passes around their attacking line-up found space behind the keeper to give the home side a 3-2 lead.

Petersfield pushed on from the restart and a trailing defensive foot gave the visitors the chance to level the scores just before the final whistle.

A Leach injected to Anna O’Kelly, who waited eagerly on the edge of the D. The ball slipped back to the baseline and A Leach hit it across goal for Easton, who deflected the ball in to make it 3-3.

The draw meant Petersfield lost top spot in the league as Poole have a better goal difference, but Petersfield remain unbeaten on 13 points.