Petersfield travelled to the cup finals day in Bournemouth as undefeated league champions to face Hamble where another victory was expected. The fixture saw the absence of three key men, top goal scorer Alex Elms, goal keeper Charlie Parry and defensive mid Hugo Sugden however saw the return of Paul Bridges who has not been in action since December.

The fixture started with both teams displaying their nerves and their frustration at the unusual characteristics of the hosts pitch. As possession was gained by either side the ball was passed firmly and quickly to all players to reduce the cup final nerves. Hamble were quickly put on the defensive alert due to Petersfield’s pacey wingers, Cains and Lane who caused lightning speed runs and untouchable dribbling skills which looked to damage Hamble. Hamble kept calm and defended well which saw a midfield battle escalate through the first half with Petersfield’s defence not seeing much action. Petersfield piled on the attacking pressure and gained a quick deflection from Edwards to the top right corner where Hamble’s keeper palmed it away with a diving save. This near opportunity increased Petersfield’s hunger and overloaded the defence of Hamble who cleared the ball away from goal consistently. Petersfield’s high pressure tactic soon backfired as Hamble countered and gained a penalty flick from a shot on goal being stopped on the line by a defenders foot. Bridges, which had not touched the ball prior to this moment stood strong, showed no nerves to the penalty striker and dived across to his right as soon as the ball was struck, stretching at full length and deflecting the ball wide with an excellent stick, save. Despite this close encounter to being behind, Petersfield continued their natural style of attacking hockey which led to a string of penalty corners, a routine involving Martin, Alder & Grinstead saw Petersfield take a 1-0 lead into the half-time break with an exquisite touch to pass the ball in-between the keepers legs.

The second half saw the game more balanced, both teams testing each other at every angle of the team’s dynamics, shots were fired, high, wide and saved, tackles were made and missed and dynamic runs were fouled or closed down along with cards shown to both teams involving Hind (Green), Lane (Green) and Martin (Yellow) from the Petersfield side. Many attempt from Edwards resulted in a foul within the circle to which penalty corner routines were dispatched by Hamble. Petersfield’s defensive penalty corner plays dispatched all attempts of goal from penalty corners also creating an equal display for the supporters making it a fixture one should not have missed. As the half continued, within the later stages Petersfield began to overpower the Hamble side with their fitness which saw many quick passing plays between wingers Lane and Cains along with striker Edwards where Hamble saw gasping saves from the keeper to keep the score at 1-0. Hamble were broken one last time before the final whistle when a two on one scenario came from Edwards and Lane breaking through the opposition’s defence leaving the oncoming keeper to be passed around, leaving Lane with a tap in over the line securing a cup victory of 2-0 over Hamble.

This fixture see’s returning keeper Paul Bridges obtaining Man of the Match along with Petersfield Men’s XI succeeding in obtaining the double which include the Snows Group Hampshire Division 5 League Title and the Hampshire Open League Trophy along with the extension of undefeated games played to 38 (35 wins, 3 draws).

Match details

Match date

Mon 05 May 2014

Kickoff

14:30

Team overview