Ladies display dominant performance with 6-0 win at Home

Petersfield Ladies faced Fareham in their first home game since returning from Christmas. Petersfield, short of defenders, tasked Easton and Beaton with filling in on the backline. Fareham won the toss and opted for first pushback. Petersfield immediately put the visitors under pressure with Hedges and O’Kelly closing in on the recipient of the first pass. The Fareham midfielder released a rushed pass which was neatly intercepted by A.Leach in left mid. S.Bardoe offered an off-load inside and linked with O’Kelly pressing high up the line. The ball was fed to top D for Eames to run onto and a quick shot caught the defender off guard and as the ball collided with her foot, Petersfield were awarded a penalty short corner. S.Bardoe injected the ball rapidly to Hedges who fired it across front of goal to the right post where S.Bardoe was ready to deflect it inside the keeper! 1-0 Petersfield.
At the re-start Petersfield repeated the same pressure and forced Fareham to pass the ball back to their defensive line. As they looked to pass wide left, J.Bardoe on right wing anticipated the pass and was closing down the pass as the Fareham player received the ball to her stick, forcing the situation. This time R.Leach was there to collect the wayward pass and supported by Llewelyn fed the ball back. Llewelyn distributed the ball to centre for Easton to find Eames. Using textbook triangle set-ups Eames, S.Bardoe and Hedges played the ball forward into the D. A last-ditch tackle from Fareham set-up another short corner for Petersfield. S.Bardoe injected short to O’Kelly who slipped it back to the baseline for S.Bardoe to deflect to the P-spot. Hedges struck the ball on the p-spot, but the keeper was alert and with a dive deflected the ball off her right hand pad. O’Kelly, not missing a trick, was running towards the goal when the deflection came her way. Incredibly calmly she lifted the ball over the sprawled keeper and the score line ticked over again within the first 10 mins. 2-0 Petersfield.
Another restart and another press from Petersfield. Fareham, a bit more prepared for the Petersfield front line, played the ball around their mid-field and were able to attack into the Petersfield half. Running a press down the centre of the pitch, their CF used her pace to stretch the defence. Easton at CB was un-able to dispossess the ball from the youngster but channelled her wide to allow GK Pearson to close down the space and shut-down the shot. Beaton, picking up the deflection, neatly worked her way out of danger and fed the ball up the side-line to A.Leach. Slipping it inside to S.Bardoe, who in-turn found Eames, Petersfield provided a masterclass of triangle passes. Eames spotted O’Kelly hugging the baseline and fed the ball high, a deflection in front of goal for J.Bardoe was stopped by a foot on the line and a Penalty flick was awarded. Young Eames was encouraged to step up and confidently powered the ball under the diving Fareham keeper. 3-0 Petersfield.
Back to the re-start and another chance for Fareham to control the play of the game. Beaton, not having been needed much at left back, switched with Eames in CM. Fareham played the ball around but Petersfield, utilising their fresh legs in CM, set up a solid press and as Fareham tried to play the ball around the back the ball was fed directly off the side-line in their own 25. R.Leach, quickly taking the side-line pass linked with J.Bardoe in right wing. J.Bardoe ran the ball around the left back and down the base-line of the D before slipping it to Hedges. Hedges, pulling the ball back to avoid a tackle wound up and shot the ball into the back-right corner. 4-0 Petersfield.
Fareham, not dis-heartened by Petersfield’s success, set off with an attack down their left. Finding space between the Petersfield line-up they broke into the Petersfield 25. Llewelyn channelling the left wing managed to prevent a direct attack into the D, however, was caught just inside the D by the umpire for a stick tackle. Short corner awarded to Fareham. As the ball was injected to Top D, Beaton shut down the first option. The ball was slipped left and Easton closed down the 2nd option. Stick down she took the sting out of the shot enough to allow Llewelyn to step off post and clear the ball out wide to R.Leach. R.Leach utilised J.Bardoe up the wing who found support from her daughter, S.Bardoe on the inside. With Beaton defending the short corner Eames was bee-lining towards the Fareham D. S.Bardoe fed the ball forward for her to run onto. Pulling it left she neatly dodged the defender as she entered the circle and, on her reverse, panhandled her stick to whip the ball onto the far post and in. 5-0 Petersfield before the half time whistle sounded.

The second half, less eventful for Petersfield, saw Fareham set up several attacking runs. Despite very close chances, they struggled to shake off the Petersfield defenders and were unable to outwit Pearson in goal. The final flourish of the game came from a further short corner for Petersfield. As S.Bardoe had been sent to half way for an attacking fault on the edge of the circle and Fareham had lost a defender due to a break in the line, A.Leach stepped up to inject the ball. Firing it top D, Hedges received the ball and held it for a second to draw the first runner. She deceptively slipped it left for O’Kelly. O’Kelly perfectly weighted the ball through the gap of defenders for J.Bardoe poised on the right post. The ball was guided swiftly across the goal line for Petersfield’s sixth and final goal.
A dominant performance from the local side. Petersfield are due to travel to Dorset next week to face Bournemouth away.