Sport
Petersfield concede two late goals as Royal Navy sail to Pompey Cup final
The Royal Navy FA have booked their place in the Portsmouth Senior Cup final after last night’s 2-0 victory over Petersfield Town.
The Rams came into the tie with a much stronger side with the returning Tommy Tierney, former Portsmouth midfielder Charlie Bell and captain Liam Kimber making the starting 11 after being rested on Monday night.
Petersfield controlled the early stages of the game but the RN were able to create some chances. Skipper Danny Kerr had his effort palmed away by youngster Harvey Greenfield, before Elliot Holmes’ strike was comfortable caught by the Rams keeper.
The RN continued to break on the counter, looking to attack down the flanks, but had no luck with Petersfield’s dominant display and they failed to really test Dane Rigby. Tyler Giddings’ effort was blasted over as Jake Thomson has his low drive blocked.
Tierney’s strike was pushed away for a corner by Rigby as Kimber tried his luck from range just before the break.
HT: Petersfield Town 0-0 Royal Navy FA
Just seconds into the restart Petersfield came extremely close to taking the lead with Kimber’s strike just going wide of the post.
Cam Quirke had two opportunities on goal, which were comfortable caught by Greenfield.
Two quick chances for the Rams saw Giddings’ header snatched by Rigby as Charlie Merritt drilled his effort wide.
Kerr and Holmes combined just outside the box, which allowed substitute Sanchez Jansz-Baker to volley his effort over the bar.
However shortly afterwards Jansz-Baker found the bottom left corner to put the RN ahead with 20 minutes remaining.
Tierney had another opportunity, this time to make it level, but he curled his effort from outside the box wide.
Petersfield believed they should of been awarded a penalty when Callum Knoll was bought down by Jim Cox, the referee waved play on.
The Rams controlled the later stages of the game. Alex Hulme’s strike was blocked by Rigby as Bell managed to pick out Thomson late on but his header was cleared away.
In the third minute of added time Petersfield’s last attack of game saw Bell square it across the face of goal but Shawn Benjamin managed hook it clear.
This allowed another attack for the RN, which saw Sean Powell net in the late on to secure their spot in final of Portsmouth Senior Cup
FT: Petersfield Town 0-2 Royal Navy FA
Gosport Borough or Portsmouth U21s will lock horns with the RN at the PMC Stadium next month.
Connor Hoare told Winol: “We could have been 2-0 up before their first goal. Liam [Kimber], Charlie [Merritt] and Tommo [Jake Thomson] had chances, and we make a mistake, 1-0.
“We just said to the lads [after the game], it’s a bit of our story of the season – on top of games, but all of a sudden they are taking their opportunities. The amount of times this season, whether that be at half-time or at the end of the game, we’ve gone ‘how have we not won that game?’ It has been relentless the amount of times we’ve said that, and today was another case of it.”
What has gone wrong?
The Rams have been missing a lot of key players due to injury in recent weeks. Keeper Ellis Grant, Ollie Davis, Cam Smith and Chad Cornwell have all been sidelined.
Archie Greenough and Dec Seiden, who finished off as the club’s top goalscorer despite leaving in early February, both left Petersfield during the season.
Seiden’s 15 goals for Hoare’s side earned him a move back to Moneyfields, who scored a further five times for the Wessex Premier League champions.
Hoare has expressed how the club’s struggled since Seiden’s departure, and has hinted where the Rams will be looking to strength next season: “Losing Dec was massive for us, he had a lot of goal contributions, it was actually quite difficult [the transition from losing him] – we prepare a way of playing around him.
“You take him out, you take all your goals out.
“The last few months [since Dec left] we’ve been playing Liam Kimber, who is a midfielder, as a striker – because we’ve no one else. Ollie Davis was our biggest goal threat all season, he suffered a four month injury. We know we need a striker, winger and a really experienced centre-back [when we go into recruitment in the summer].
“We’re looking for more experience, we’ll come back as a better team, next year”