Petersfield Town manager Connor Hoare was left to rue individual errors after the Rams crashed to a 3-0 defeat at Sherborne Town in the Wessex League Premier Division on Saturday afternoon.

There was little to choose between the sides in the first half.

The Rams tried to build from the back, but they rarely got in behind the Sherborne defence with many promising moves breaking down with a misplaced pass – whereas Sherborne adopted a more direct approach.

The hosts took the lead in the 40th minute. The Rams failed to clear their lines and ended up conceding a penalty, which was converted by Ant Herrin.

In the 60th minute the hosts doubled their lead with a tap in from Callum Thompson, and they put the game beyond reach in the 81st minute. Jay Morris produced a fine save from an initial shot, only for the ball to fall to Sherbourne’s Alfie Calway, and although Morris got a hand to his follow-up shot he could not prevent it from going into the net.

“Sherborne were very direct, waited for mistakes and capitalised well,” said Hoare.

“We were okay for 30 minutes, created a couple of chances, then we made two individual errors which cost us the points. I think the journey took it out of the lads, but that’s not an excuse.

“We didn’t deserve anything from the game. They had real grit and dug in when it was hard for them. We just needed to show a bit more of this and recognise when things are not going our way to dig in and do ugly things well. This will allow us to play the way we want to.”

Petersfield are away at Baffins Milton Rovers on Saturday (3pm).