Petersfield Ladies 6 Fareham Ladies III 0: PETERSFIELD Ladies faced Fareham Ladies’ third team in their first home game since returning from Christmas.

Petersfield, short of defenders, tasked Easton and Beaton with filling in at the back.

Fareham won the toss and opted for first pushback. Petersfield put the visitors under pressure with Hedges and O’Kelly closing down the recipient of the first pass.

A Fareham midfielder released a rushed pass, which was neatly intercepted by A Leach in left midfield.

Eames fired a shot which hit a Fareham defender’s foot and Petersfield were awarded a penalty short corner. S Bardoe injected the ball rapidly to Hedges, who fired it across the front of goal to the right-hand post where S Bardoe was ready to deflect it inside the keeper and give Petersfield the lead.

The home side’s second goal came from a short corner. S Bardoe injected short to O’Kelly, who slipped the ball back to the baseline to S Bardoe. She knocked the ball to Hedges, but the keeper was alert and deflected the ball off her right-hand pad. The ball fell to O’Kelly, who calmly lifted the ball over the keeper.

Fareham created a good opportunity, but Petersfield keeper Pearson closed down the space and saved the shot.

Petersfield broke quickly up the pitch and were awarded a penalty flick. Eames stepped up and confidently powered the ball under the diving Fareham keeper to make it 3-0.

The hosts were soon back on the attack and J Bardoe ran the ball down the baseline of the D before slipping it to Hedges. She pulled the ball back and hit a shot into the right-hand corner to make it 4-0.

Fareham did not let their heads drop and the visitors won themselves a short corner. The short corner came to nothing, though, as Beaton shut down the first option and Easton closed down the second option to allow Llewelyn to step off the post and clear the ball out to R Leach.

R Leach linked with J Bardoe up the wing, and S Bardoe offered support on the inside. S Bardoe fed the ball to Eames, who entered the circle and whipped the ball into the goal to give the home side a convincing 5-0 lead at half time.

The second half was a lot less eventful for Petersfield, but they did manage to add one more goal to their tally.

The final flourish of the game came from another Petersfield short corner.

A Leach stepped up to inject the ball and fired it to Hedges, who received the ball and held it for a second to draw the first runner. She deceptively slipped it left to O’Kelly, who perfectly weighted a ball through the defenders towards the right-hand post where J Bardoe was poised to knock the ball home.

The game finished 6-0 to Petersfield following a dominant performance from the home side.

The three points have cemented second place for Petersfield in the Hampshire Division Three (Women) table.

Petersfield Ladies will travel to Dorset this Saturday for a match against seventh-placed Bournemouth Ladies’ fourth team. Petersfield will want to complete the double after winning the reverse fixture 3-2 earlier this season.