Romsey Mens 2nd XI Season Report
The Men’s 2nd XI have enjoyed their third season in the Hampshire Leagues. Having been promoted as champions in 2010 they started the 2010/11 season with high hopes for Hampshire Open League Division 8.
The opening 3 games of the season were friendlies and the team hit their straps immediately and won them all. Things were looking good! As soon as the league season started however goals became the issue for Romsey 2nds. Not only did they struggle to score any, but the team got into the habit of leaking soft goals and so giving away some strong positions.
Most notably there was the away game defeat at Hamble where Romsey were unable to make anything of their dominance, only to be hammered by the double blow of conceding a goal and loosing defensive stalwart Dave Loescher to a season ending injury.
Following that match were games against Southampton University, Trojans 5ths and Gillingham 2nds – the other 3 strong teams in the division. Away at the University the team played well and debutant Josh Bishop showed the first glimpse of his class with his opening goal when Romsey took the lead. They were unable to capitalise though and eventually slipped to a 2-1 defeat. Similarly at Trojans a good performance was not matched with the result and Romsey only managed a 2-2 draw. Against Gillingham, the eventual division winners, at home Romsey played some of their best hockey of the season only to finish defeated 1-3.
The disappointment of the Gillingham result and the final gelling of a team which had changed quite significantly from the previous season saw the season turn around though. The final 11 games of the season resulted in 8 wins, 2 draws and only 1 defeat. The fate of Romsey in the league had already been decided however and they now must wait and see where they will be playing their hockey next season having finishes 3rd in the Division.
The 2nd XI has been represented by 28 players this season. 14 of these players have played over half the games. 4 players, Messers East, Arnold, Robertson and Blake Cookson now over 50 caps for the team.
It has been the goals scored box that has been the story of the season though. In the last two years the team has scored on average 99 goals in a season. This year the total is 57! The main sources were evergreen Chris Arnold with 11 and Matt Clarke with 9. Other unlikely, but fruitful sources were among others, Peter Smith, Will Archibald, Colin Harwood and Josh Bishop.
For a full run down of this and previous seasons appearances click here.
For a full run down of this and previous seasons goal scorers click here.
In addition the following link will take you to match reports and photographs from this season.
