City of Portsmouth Ladies II 3 Petersfield Ladies III 1: PETERSFIELD Ladies’ third team slipped to defeat away at City of Portsmouth Ladies’ second team on Saturday.

The home side moved the ball with purpose and created a number of opportunities before scoring their first goal ten minutes into the game.

In defence Ray and Harding managed to keep the opposition at bay until a short corner resulted in a second Portsmouth goal, soon followed by a third before the break.

At half time captain Chandler welcomed the arrival of school netballers Jones and Briggs, swapping bibs for mouth guards and bringing the team up to its full compliment.

A revived Petersfield were the superior side in the second half. Geer’s tenacious battling in midfield paid off as she fed the ball to Day on the left wing. Beating the defence with speed she laid off a neat pass inside the D to L Beate, resulting in a goal.

Most of the damage, however, had been done in the first half and despite Petersfield’s continued effort to seek out pockets of space and wear down the opposition time ran out and the visitors were beaten.