Petersfield Town 0 Whitchurch United 1: PETERSFIELD Town returned to action at Love Lane against fellow mid-table side Whitchurch last Saturday, but, despite having the lion’s share of the play, they went down to a narrow defeat.

As early as the first minute the Rams created a good chance when Harry Tremlett unleashed a shot which was well held by visiting keeper Josh Cotton.

However, in the 10th minute Phil Berntsen took full advantage of a static home defence to fire Whitchurch into the lead.

Petersfield struggled to get their game together although they did create a few chances, most notably Will Essai’s shot on the turn in the 23rd minute which went over the bar, and a 32nd minute shot from Tremlett which was saved by Cotton.

The second half opened with the Rams not looking particularly threatening. So it was no surprise when manager Mark Summerhill made some changes, bringing on new signing Harry Gregory and Matt Rowland.

The changes livened up Petersfield and in the 61st minute Rowland’s ball in from the left found Gari Judd but he was unable to keep his shot down and it sailed over the bar.

In the 68th minute Whitchurch were lucky to survive a goalmouth scramble with three shots from Petersfield, the last from Gregory narrowly went over.

Home defender Kris Stephens was sent off for a foul which denied Whitchurch a goalscoring opportunity.