Took the train upto Warminster and arrived around 2pm in bright sunshine. The ground is pretty close to the station, a quick walk down to the high street, turn left and walk up a hill. I tried to take a shortcut on spotting the floodlights only to realise that there wasn't an entrance on the hillside and the footpath only lead to some houses.
Arrived at the ground and paid £3 to get in which seems to be the standard price for Wessex Div 1 football. The players of both teams were out warming up but there were only a couple of spectators outside - the bar was doing a roaring trade. It wasn't until 2.45 that the regulars started to appear (although a few timed it for the second half when the gateman had gone). The ground had a spectacular view over the town and the rolling wiltshire countryside behind it.
One noticeable element to the game was the lack of sponsorship for both teams shirts, a real change to the Wess Prem where sponsorship is the norm. Petersfield did have a PTFC logo on their shirt numbers to try and make up for it.
Warminster took the lead on 15 minutes with a clever run and shot from the edge of the area. Gaining in confidence, they scored a second 2 minutes later when a ball from the right flew over the last defender's head to a Warminster player on the edge of the box. He hit a great volley past the keeper to the delight of the home fans. However the team sat back on their lead and allowed Petersfield back into the game. After a couple of chances were wasted, a powerful run down the left hand side through the defence put a Petersfield player into space to pull a goal back with a stunning shot before halftime.
Took a wander around the pitch at halftime and watched the second half from the opposite side. The moon started to rise and there was a real chill in the air as there was no cloud cover. While Petersfield continued to press for an equaliser, the final ball was lacking and against the run of play on the 73rd minute Warminster made it 3.1 from the penalty spot as one of their players was brought down in the box. However the Warminster team again sat back and two minutes later it was game on again as Petersfield pulled another goal back, this time a cross from the left was met with a powerful shot and the keeper was unable to keep it from crossing the line by his left hand post. Warminster managed to hold on to their lead this time and scored again on the 87th minute with a breakaway attack.
Rushed back to the station to get the 5.05 train (which was delayed) and was back home by 6pm. An enjoyable game to watch and a friendly atmosphere - seems to be a common trend at Wessex One games!
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