Petersfield Town co-manager Pat Suraci expressed his delight after his side moved a step closer to securing a play-off place in Division One of the Wessex League.
Marvin Orepo scored the only goal of the game at Whitchurch in the tenth minute. Matt Dougan won a penalty for the Rams on 87 minutes, but his effort was saved by the home keeper.
“It was a good win,” said Suraci. “It was a good performance – especially in the first half.
“We should have been two or three up and put the game to bed, but we didn’t take our chances.
“In the second half it got a little bit dull and scrappy. Whitchurch were quite direct. That’s the way they play the game – we’re quite used to it in the league.
“We got a penalty late on, and could have made it less nervy.”
Goalscorer Orepo started up front in place of the injured Archie Greenough, who has been in prolific form this season.
“We didn’t have Archie as he was injured at training on Thursday,” said Suraci. “He’ll be out for a couple of games. Marvin has played loads of games for us and has got the right attributes to play up front. He did really well.
“Keeper Jordi Wilson was also injured. Kye Cooper came in and kept a clean sheet. He didn’t have a lot to do but he played well.”
Next up for the Rams is a trip to Romsey Town tonight (Thursday), before trips to Fawley AFC on Saturday and Hamworthy Recreation next Tuesday night (April 18). Suraci expects to utilise his squad to navigate a way through the gruelling schedule.
“At Romsey there may be a lot of changes,” he said. “With a game two days afterwards we don’t want to be picking up injuries with a cup final – and hopefully the play-offs – to look forward to, it’s not worth it. We’ve got confidence in the squad – the cup game at Fareham showed that.
“We’re taking it one game at a time. We did that well on Saturday – we concentrated on how to beat Whitchurch and did that.”