Another Boars late show at Love Lane

The Boars journeyed west to Petersfield looking to give a much better account of themselves than in the Peter Bentley Cup visit when they were well beaten.

Saturday’s starting 11 had five changes from the previous game. Jack Poplett returned from injury but Danny Pappoe was only fit enough for the bench, Devon Fender, Ryan Ferrar and Bailey Shorey were injured and Cavan Chedzey, Elliott Hanslow and Clyde Jacques were unavailable.

Right from the start the side had a better shape and looked sharper. Petersfield are one of the best teams in the league and Roffey had a couple of close shaves in the first ten minutes, largely through misunderstandings of yet another defensive combination.

But as the game wore on they pushed forward. A Jordan Mase shot against tha bar, a good save from the home keeper and two shots narrowly wide from Tom Tolfrey and Ricardo Fernandes took them close to opening the scoring.

Then in the last minute of the half Mase wriggled away from his marker and was pulled back by his shirt when through on goal. The linesman flagged and a free kick was given on the edge of the box but no penalty or card? Home spectators overlooking the incident confirmed that the foul had taken place inside the area.

The home side had the lion’s share of possession for much of the second half and Ashley Mutongerwa and Jack Poplett were kept busy in front of Monty Watson-Price. But Petersfield did get through for Kimber to give the hosts the lead on 68 minutes.

We came close to drawing level when the ball bounced between Tolfrey and Mase a yard out but neither could get the final touch. Mase and Dan Pearse shot narrowly wide, but then in stoppage time, a free kick was played into the box and Pappoe, who had come on as an extra forward, set the ball back for Mase to find the target with a powerful drive.

The hosts may have felt frustrated having had a lot of possession but Roffey manager was pleased with his sides performance.

“I thought we deserved three points if you based it on chances created. Although we didn’t have as much of the ball, our game plan was to sit off slightly as we were away from home against an in form side.

"If we had converted our four clear cut chances the plan would have worked perfectly. I can only remember Monty having to make one difficult save across 90 minutes. In the end we are really happy with the point as they are a great side and will be right up ther.e”

Roffey: Watson-Price, Le Grange, Findlay, D. Pearse, Mutongerwa, Poplett, Fernandes, Joseph(Potter), Mase, Tolfrey(Saunders), J Pearse(Pappoe). Sub Morgan.