Petersfield Town capped a superb week by clinching a place in the Wessex League Cup final.

The Rams followed up a 1-1 draw with likely Division One champions Andover New Street by beating Premier Division Fareham Town on penalties on Tuesday night.

The tie against their highly-rated opponents – who are managed by former Arsenal ace and Pompey boss Graham Rix – finished goalless after 90 minutes. The Rams came out on top 3-1 in the penalty shoot-out and will now play Baffins Milton Rovers in the final.

Co-manager Pat Suraci was delighted – especially as they had rested seven or eight regular first-teamers with their brutal league run-in in mind.

“We went to Cams Alders with a game plan and the players executed it perfectly,” said Suraci.

“Fareham didn’t have a game at the weekend and put their first team out – and as they’re in mid-table, the cup final was their main aim.

“But the result, without so many first-teamers playing, shows the depth of our squad, their togetherness and their mentality. Every player who came in did as well as the lads on Saturday – we’re proud of all of them, for what they achieved and how hard they worked.

“There was less pressure on us – we were from the league below and although we went into the game in a confident mood, no-one else really gave us a chance. Inside the dressing room, we know the strength of our squad and we always think we have a chance.

“There was a temptation to play all our normal first-teamers – there was a cup final at stake, after all, and we ummed and aahed about it. But we have a play-off push and five league games to play in two weeks and we have to manage those players.

“The league is the priority. We are in a play-off position but it’s tight at the top. We need to win two of our final five games to make sure but it’ll be tough – in the last week of the season we play Saturday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, so it’s a hard run-in. 

“We will take it game by game and focus on what we have been doing. We want to finish as high as we can in the league. We are taking nothing for granted but we believe in these players and the staff we have here.”

The Rams took the lead against Andover New Street on Saturday through Archie Greenough, but Ross Cook levelled. “A draw was definitely fair,” said Suraci.

The Rams travel to Hamworthy Recreation on Saturday.