Mens 2nd XI hold off Poole
Romsey Mens 2nd XI 4 – 2 Poole
Romsey mens 2nd XI managed to hang on to their lead in spite of leaking two goals during a second half somewhat poorer than their performance in the forst period.
Romsey surged into the lead when early pressure won a penalty corner which skipper Stuart Robertson converted with a powerful strike which simply had too much pace in it for the Poole keeper.
Shortly afterwards another well constructed Romsey attack bore fruit when Lucas Cross squared from wide ont he right to Greig Stewart in the middle to take a touch before find James Boggis on the left of the D to fire home with a first time shot leaving the keeper stranded.
Late in the half Stewart himself burst into the D looking for the killer pass, but, given space by the Poole defence, shot himself on the back hand against the backboards to go into halftime 3-0 ahead.
The danger signs were there for Romsey shortly before the break, having let their standards drop, and in the second half Romsey were again to casual in possession, holding on to possession too long and inviting Poole to win the ball in the tackle. Romsey were still creating chances themselves, and Carl Hendy was unlucky to have a goal ruled out when he touched in Stuart Robertson’s penalty corner flick, only to see the umpire ruling it our for dangerous play.
By now Lucas Cross had moved into a central role, and midway through the half drove left to right across the top of the D before finding the space to shoot powerfully beyond the Poole keeper, helped on its way by the faintest touch from a defender’s stick.
Poole had regrouped significantly however, and were well deserved of their consolation score with 10 minutes remaining, although the goal itself was something of a goalmouth scramble.
Then with only a few minutes remaining, Poole were given another lifeline, awarded a penalty stroke after Robertson was struck on the foot on the goal line. The flick was duly converted, half way up the inside of keeper Tom Gibson’s left hand post, but Romsey took the points as 4-2 winners and consolidate in 3rd place, although having played 2 games more than the teams around them.
