Penalty shoot-out specialists Petersfield Town book return ticket to Wessex League top flight

They defeated New Milton Town 4-2 on spot-kicks in the Division 1 play-off final after a 1-1 draw in the New Forest.

For the second time in five days, young keeper Harry Greenfield made a crucial save as the Rams returned to step 5 football after a five-year absence.

Greenfield had stopped Newport IoW’s ninth penalty last Tuesday as Petersfield won 9-8 on spot-kicks on the island after another 1-1 stalemate.

Petersfield had finished 10 points adrift of Newport after 38 league games, and eight behind New Milton, but it is them who will be playing in the Premier in 2023/24.

In late March, Greenfield was again the hero as the Rams defeated higher tier Fareham Town on penalties to book a Wessex League Cup final place.

All three of those shoot-outs were away from home, and for joint-manager Joe Lea that spoke volumes about his squad’s character.

‘Yes, penalties are a lottery but we’ve won three in a row and that says a lot about the players’ composure,’ Lea told The News.

‘It’s a high pressure environment, but to win three in a row shows a real togetherness - and we’ve got a keeper who’s good at saving penalties and players willing to step up and take them.’

Alex Barsa latched onto a fine pass from skipper Connor Hoare to put Petersfield into a half-time lead at New Milton.

The visitors missed chances to extend that lead - they had three one on ones with the New Milton keeper - and were hit by what Lea called a ‘sucker punch’ of a home leveller.

Barsa had the honour of converting the Rams’ winning penalty after New Milton’s second spot-kick had hit the bar and their fourth had been saved by Greenfield. Hoare had seen his effort - the Rams’ second - also saved.

Lea insisted the joy of masterminding Petersfield’s return to the Wessex top flight outweighed anything he’d achieved during his playing career.

He admitted it was some kind of vindication for deciding to call time on his playing career early - he only turned 25 last December - to concentrate on coaching and managing.

‘This is a feeling that exceeds anything I experienced when I was playing,’ he declared.

‘It’s a lot different to being a player, as a manager you feel a lot more responsibility than you do when you’re playing.’

Lea and co-boss Pat Suraci took over Petersfield last summer after the club had finished 12th in Division 1.

Had they not won their final game 6-2 at Millbrook 6-2- sub Max Paddon netting four times - they would have finished even lower.

Petersfield only collected an average of a point per game over 36 fixtures in 2021/22. This season, from two more games, they banked 40 more points and finishing seven places higher.

‘We would have exceeded expectations regardless of whether we’d gone up or not,’ said Lea.

‘Promotion was something we didn’t even talk about last summer.

‘We just wanted to finish in the top half, that was the target, and get the team playing our brand of football.’

Expectations, though, were changed following a superb mid-season run. After losing 2-1 at New Milton on October 22, the Rams won 14 and drew one of their next 15 league games to storm into the play-off picture.

There was a small blip with successive losses at Downton and East Cowes, but they were followed with another seven-game unbeaten run.

With a play-off place already assured, Lea and Suraci then rested most of their regulars for the final Division 1 fixture at Hamworthy Recreation.

Petersfield’s season is not finished yet, as they take on Premier outfit Baffins Milton Rovers in the Wessex League Cup final at AFC Portchester next Saturday.

‘We can just go and enjoy that,’ said Lea. ‘We’ve got the big one (promotion) now, let’s just go and enjoy the final.’