IAN Saunders can focus on looking forward rather than backwards after getting a difficult FA Trophy test out of the way.

His Winchester City side eventually prevailed 3-1 at his old club Petersfield Town on Tuesday in a marathon preliminary round replay that went all the way to extra-time.

Army man Saunders still has much affection for the Rams and admitted: “If I could have chosen the fixtures, I wouldn’t have wanted to play Petersfield in any cup competition. It wasn’t pleasant for me.

“It was another tough game, as expected, and I’m just pleased we won and got some much-needed prize money (£2,500) in the bank.

"I wish Petersfield all the best for the rest of the season and I'm going to look forward rather than backwards now."

Winchester’s immediate priority is to right the wrongs of their dismal 4-0 league defeat at Didcot Town earlier in the season.

The Railwaymen are due at the Denplan City Ground on Saturday (3pm) in the Southern One South & West and can expect a tougher battle this time round.

Things couldn’t have gone much worse for the Citizens at Loop Meadow in mid-August.

Having conceded two early goals, Winchester were handed a lifeline when Didcot had their player/manager sent off just 13 minutes in. But they missed a penalty and conceded twice more against ten men.

“We’re a different side now,” said Saunders. “We’ve got almost the same players, but there’s more resolve about us now as we showed on Tuesday.

“We went in one down at half-time at Petersfield but, once we’d scored, I genuinely felt only one team was going to win it. It’s just a shame it took us until the 92nd minute to get our second goal!

"Both teams could have done with it being settled in 90 minutes, but at least we came through it relatively unscathed. Adam Tomasso took another knock across the ankle but will hopefully be okay for Saturday."

The Trophy win - settled by goals from Joe Briggs, Sam Wilson and Jamie Ford - was achieved without Ross Bottomley and Jason Silver (both injured), Taz Roberts (ill), Craig Feeney (unavailable) and new midfield recruit Andy Jenkinson who was held up at work.

That opened the door for Kieran Stephens, a wide midfielder signed from Amesbury Town, to make his full debut. Two young guns, Zac Kaiser and Billy Brindley, were also involved off the bench.