PETERSFIELD Hockey Club’s men’s second team thrashed Gillingham’s second team 7-0 on Saturday.

Both teams started at a quick pace as the play went from end to end. It was Petersfield, though, who made the most of their first real opportunity when Street found a gap to slot past the sliding keeper before being upended and having to leave the pitch.

Gillingham immediately countered and forced the home defence to work hard to protect their 1-0 lead.

Petersfield then turned solid defence into a fast counter-attack and caught Gillingham on the back foot. R Plewes tipped in King’s shot to put the home side 2-0 up.

With Gillingham keen to establish a footing in the game, the second half started with some tense moments in front of the Petersfield goal.

Broadmeadow showed his athleticism and dived full stretch to protect the 2-0 lead.

Having weathered the pressure, Petersfield pushed back with Cleife working hard in midfield to create some good angles and fast attacking passages of play.

Petersfield’s pressure was rewarded again with King’s strike just inside the D which put the home side 3-0 up.

A textbook short corner was then stopped by T Cooke-Priest and slipped for Bott to neatly slot the ball into the goal to put Petersfield 4-0 up.

Gillingham changed their formation to try to make their defence more solid, only for Plewes to slot home Petersfield’s fifth goal.

The home side were in a confident mood now and were eager to pile on more attacking pressure. A Petersfield shot was deflected away by the Gillingham keeper, but this provided Beacham with his first opportunity to add to the scoresheet to make it 6-0.

Gillingham rallied well, but were frustrated time and again by Petersfield’s Broadmeadow, Francis and Housden.

The icing on the cake for Petersfield was provided by King’s blast into the top corner from Bott’s set up to give the home side a 7-0 victory.