Petersfield Walk Away With Draw

Petersfield on the back of two wins against Chichester and Southampton welcomed Bournemouth on an overcast Saturday afternoon. A fixture thought be a tricky encounter due to their past experience with the club in previous seasons.

Once the squad gathered at the home ground, the match preparations began. Captain Grinstead led a match briefing and laid down the plan of attack. With everyone’s eyes on the target, all players were immediately stretching and eager to pick those hockey sticks up and start playing some hockey!

Petersfield conquered the first task of whom would have the ball at the beginning and then set off like the start of a Formula One race for the first 10 minutes. Intricate passing around the opposition’s defensive area caused Bournemouth a spot of bother. Petersfield exploited Bournemouth’s sleepy start with an intense period of attack, peppering them from all angles, overloading the wings, getting behind the defence and practically walking the ball into the goal. Petersfield managed to execute this same move twice in a row which allowed forward Harris to add 2 goals to the score sheet. With a 2-0 disadvantage, Bournemouth knew they had to work hard to steal the goal back. Bournemouth turned up the heat and cause the whole Petersfield side to run and began to exploit gaps in the field by recycling the ball around side to side effectively. The Petersfield side, worked well together, commanding from the back to the front, allowing them to hold onto the 2-0 lead at the half time break.

In the second period, the game continued as it had been left in the second half. Bournemouth were making Petersfield work hard for the ball, and created waves and waves of attack. Much to their disappointment, wing backs Rye and Marlow were able to stop there attacks down the wings and build a counter with their acceleration and impressive stick skills. Despite being denied, Bournemouth continued and nearly grabbed a goal back, as the striker drew Petersfield’s keeper Smith and flicked the ball on the angle towards the net, it looked to be heading home until wing-back Rye, jumped between the posts and stole the limelight with a stick save on the line. Bournemouth continued to battle with Petersfield and were soon rewarded as Hawkins was spotted not concentrating. Hawkins had some making up to do with his teammates as his apparent lack of concentration cost the ultimate price; a goal. Petersfield were still creating chances and came close to scoring another with a Harris drag flick from the penalty corner. Bournemouth with momentum grabbed a second goal after over loading the circle and sneaking a goal past keeper Smith and defender Clay on the post. With the game level, Petersfield called for a change of men, re-structuring to their starting XI in a bid to regain control for a last push to take home the reward of an additional 3 points. Now half way through the second half, both teams battling it out, with end to end attacks where both sides were narrowly missing out on a goal advantage. A break down in play from the midfield area secured the Petersfield advantage after J. Atkinson loaded his missile launcher and waited patiently for the occasion to arise before locking on his target and pulling the trigger. A switch of play down the left, before cutting into the circle and finding J. Atkinson ready to unload, soon found the ball rocketing past the Bournemouth goalkeeper. Petersfield now 3-2 in the lead, needed to hold out for the win, but with time remaining on the clock, a tough Bournemouth side were not giving up hope until the final whistle was blown. Bournemouth applied heavy pressure against Petersfield and caused the side to make a flurry of mistakes. Clay was on the receiving end of a Green card for a late challenge, reducing the side to 10 men. Petersfield dealt with the power play effectively, however could not keep out the penalty corner goal which allowed Bournemouth to drive home with a single point.

With the 3-3 result, Petersfield lie in 3rd place in Hampshire Division 2 and look to overtake 2nd place Ile of Wight whom they travel to on the 21st October.

Man of the Match: Max Rye – Outstanding performance
Champagne Moment: Max Rye – Stick save on line
DOD: Luke Hawkins – CONCENTRATE!

Team: Smith, Marlow, Clay, Rye, Hawkins, Hughes-Stanton, Grinstead ©, Edney, Lane, Harris, J. Atkinson, Hind, Edwards, Hall, Alder and Terry.