PETERSFIELD?TOWN 3

CIRENCESTER 1

THEY say the bigger they come the harder they fall. And it’s hard not to agree.

For the second time in this season’s FA?Cup competition, on Saturday, Petersfield Town faced a team flying high in the division above them. And for the second time the Rams sent their lofty visitors packing.

Two weeks ago it was Weymouth who came to Love Lane, saw but didn’t conquer. Fourteen days later, Cirencester met the same fate.

Both times the Rams won by a comfortable two-goal margin, a margin that could and maybe should have been bigger still on Saturday as Petersfield squandered a couple of gilt-edged chances to put the tie beyond Cirencester before Joe Briggs finally did with his second goal of a pulsating tie in stoppage time.

But it would be folly to criticise a Petersfield team who yet again worked incredibly hard and played with such resilience, focus, passion and grim determination that they have rewritten the club’s history books by reaching the third qualifying round of the world’s oldest knockout cup competition for the first time.

The third qualifying round draw, which will see Town play their fourth game in this the most romantic of cup competitions, undoubtedly pits the Rams against their strongest opposition yet in the shape of Vanarama National League South side St Albans City.

But with the Hertfordshire side, like the Rams, struggling for league form, they won’t necessarily relish a trip to quirky Love Lane against a home side that are very much up for the cup.

On Saturday, another cup shock was definitely on the cards as early as the sixth minute when Howard Neighbour’s cross-field ball found Briggs who beat a defender before sliding the ball into Cirencester goalkeeper Glyn Garner’s net to give Town the lead.

And Town kept their Gloucestershire visitors at bay relatively comfortably for the remainder of the first half but were undone by a free-kick just outside the area at the start of the second when Charlie Griffin curled a low effort into the net to put Cirencester back on level terms.

And did Petersfield panic and crumble? Not a bit of it. Instead they redoubled their efforts and forced a corner in the 62nd minute from which they retook the lead.

The corner was flicked on by Jamie Ford into the path of Alek Przespolewski who, rather than attempt to head goalward, unselfishly nodded the ball back across the six-yard box where Neighbour stepped up to head powerfully home.

Not content with the lead, Petersfield pushed forward looking for a decisive third goal as they thwarted Cirencester’s increasingly desperate efforts to force an equaliser and take the tie to a replay.

And Petersfield would have had that cushion but for Briggs’ attempt to lift the ball over Garner in a one-on-one being thwarted when the goalkeeper stretched out a hand to block the ball.

And Cirencester also had their goalkeeper to thank when he dived low and late to his left to fingertip an effort around the post that was headed for the bottom corner.

But Petersfield weren’t to be denied and finally scored the goal their probing and battling play deserved when Briggs picked up the ball on the right, cut inside his marker and coolly buried a low shot into the net to set up a tie with St Albans City.

The bigger they come the harder they fall.

On Monday, cup kings Petersfield Town were brought down to earth with a bump when they were beaten 5-0 at Beaconsfield in the Evo-Stik Southern League Division One Central.

Midfielder Charlie Losasso scored a hat-trick and striker Aaron Berry scored twice as the Rams remained in the bottom two.

On Saturday, Petersfield Town entertain Winchester City in their first taste of action in the FA?Trophy. The preliminary tie kicks off at Love Lane at 3pm.