Romsey Hockey Club

Romsey Men 3rd XI’s 2011-12 season came to end Saturday with a game full of opportunities, two disallowed goals and a team full of cuts and bruises!

Romsey took the push back at Bournemouth’s home ground and kicked into action with holding 90% of the possession in the first half! Opportunities came thick and fast with brilliant triangular plays around the team, making Bournemouth having to work hard to get the ball. Brilliant attacks on goal came with chances just going wide from Vice-Captain Pete Cooper, Jon Marsh, J Robinson, Jamie Botto, Steven White and Martin Simpson-Scott. Brilliant play also came from Romsey’s defence to switch the play between the wingers.

However, with what play Bournemouth did get within the first half, they didn’t take it sitting down by creating a couple of chances. These chances were brilliantly defused from Blake Cookson, Lucas Suleja and Dave Thomson to draw the play back out through Jon Marsh. However, Romsey were caught asleep in a tense moment within the first half, allowing Bournemouth to create a one-on-one challenge against goal keeper Craig Mellor. However, Mellor didn’t sit there idle and came flying off his line sliding through the player at top D to take the ball for Cookson to clear comfortably.

Romsey’s best play of the first half saw them get a goal from a penalty corner, which was quickly disallowed by Bournemouth’s umpire. The penalty corner was swiftly injected by Simpson-Scott to Marsh at top D for Cookson to fire the ball home! Romsey couldn’t understand the decision but accepted it and moved on!

After a short half time break both teams came back fighting for those goals! Bournemouth didn’t want to see a loss while sitting 2nd in the league and appealed on numerous occasions to the umpires. This incurred several warnings of cards to be shown if they did not accept the umpire’s decisions being made. However, they didn’t need to wait long for the first goal to come.

Within 10 minutes of play Bournemouth were able to make clean sweep from the baseline to their Captain at top D who took a first time strike to the bottom left corner. Mellor made an awesome dive for the ball but just couldn’t see it come through the players making the score 1-0 to Bournemouth.

Romsey made further opportunities with plays from Danny Nicoll who was able to take the ball around several players to have shots on goal. Nicoll was also able to pick out Mark McArdle and Clark to have further attempts at goal but, again, the shots just went wide. Barely minutes later Simpson-Scott was able to drag the ball around a player to find a foot within the D creating another chance for Romsey to capitalise. The injection was again played swiftly to Marsh for Cookson to take another hard strike at goal. The back was found again! However, it was swiftly disallowed again for complaints against Simpson-Scott’s footing when injecting.

Bournemouth took no time in firing the ball down the pitch from the 16. Romsey made awesome effort to get back and was able to draw the play away on several occasions with Man of the Match Tom Knell playing hard for his team. But Romsey couldn’t hold back the tide for long giving Bournemouth their 2nd and final goal of the game with a slip through Romsey’s back line.

The game ended 2-0 to Bournemouth. Romsey made some awesome efforts throughout the game and proved how far the team have come since the beginning of the season! Captain Matt Clark and Vice-Captain Pete Cooper congratulated the whole team on their amazing efforts and high morale throughout the season. The season has had its up’s and down’s but Romsey never gave up and, for a new team in their first season, have managed to sit comfortably in mid-table.
BRING ON THE SUMMER LEAGUE!!!!!!

Romsey men 3rd travelled to Portsmouth this weekend to face the Sharks in what was to be Romsey’s 2nd to last game of the season! Romsey had to get the win to stay within reach of that potential promotion spot. However, hot temperatures and a heavy amount of short corners kept them at mid table.

Romsey took the push back under the hot sun in temperatures reaching a lovely 18°C. The heavy amounts of sand on the pitch caused slow ball speeds with the home team being able to capitalize on this due to their familiarity with it. Romsey played the first half with their heads towards the ground and not applying much pressure on 16’s. This allowed for the Sharks to be able to fire passes the entire length of the pitch creating many opportunities for their Captain, who was constantly sat at the top of Romsey’s D, to make quick turns have a clean shot at goal. This created the first goal and a penalty stroke for the Sharks making it 2-1.

Romsey didn’t get bitten by the Sharks without fighting back. At occasions Romsey made excellent play through the centre with triangular play from Vice-Captain Pete Cooper, Adam Butler and the ever reliable Jon Marsh. Romsey also had good runs on both left and right wings through Captain Matt Clark, Jamie Botto and J Robinson. The first Romsey goal came after some switching play just outside Portsmouth’s D. Mark McArdle was able to neatly draw the defenders out allowing Martin Simpson-Scott to gain clear spare at the top right of the D. Simpson-Scott saw his opportunity and took the shot. Danny Nicoll made brilliant effort by getting his stick to the ball and changing its direction. Completely throwing the keeper off guard! The score-line at half time sat at 2-1.

After some strong words at half time by Captain Clark, Romsey came back fighting applying stronger pressure than what was seen in the first half creating some good shots on target by Clark, McArdle, Simpson-Scott and Marsh. However, the Shark’s keeper was too on form to let any of these past. The Sharks were able to penetrate Romsey’s D on several occasions. Man of the Match Craig Mellor was able to make some big saves by coming right to the top of the D to kick the ball away on several occasions. Blake Cookson and Lucas Suleja also made key saves from the line and throughout the D. However, later on within the game, when the Shark’s Captain turned to make a reverse stick shot, Cookson came through him and jabbed the ball clean. The Shark’s umpire blew for a stick tackle! Romsey’s umpire questioned this and did not feel it was a short corner, but Shark’s umpire firmly stood by his decision and would not listen to reason. A penalty corner was blown and this created 5 penalty corners back-to-back! Fantastic saves were made by Tom Knell running one, but Romsey couldn’t keep them out and the score-line became 3-1! Barely minutes later another penalty corner was conceded! The Sharks made a played a good dummy routine being able to barely slip the ball past Mellor. Making the score 4-1!

Romsey didn’t go down without a fight and made further attempts at goal! A good open run from Clark into a player’s foot within the D created Romsey’s a penalty corner and their last chance of the game! A powerful injection from Simpson-Scott to Cooper was played to Clark who saw red and fired on goal! The shot was stopped on the line by a defended and a penalty stroke was awarded! Simpson-Scott didn’t disappoint by fooling the keeper playing the ball bottom right.

The score ended 4-2! Romsey have lost their hopes in promotion but kept their head held high and were able to enjoy the sun for the remainder of the afternoon! Next week’s final game is against Bournemouth! Because it’s the last game the bandanas will be out in force! Romsey have said they are looking forward to next season and are going to work hard together as a team over the summer to come back fighting!

Romsey travelled to Basingstoke without their fearless leader Captain Matt Clark with many playing on waterbase for the first time. However, Romsey started the game strongly by spreading the ball around the team well. The first and only goal of the game came after barely 2 minutes with a contender for team ‘goal of the season’ as Jon Marsh won the ball by the centre spot and played strong up the pitch and made a pass through to Mark McArdle who lifted the ball over the defenders stick and to release Jamie Botto down the right wing. Botto then hit a bullet cross the D where J Robinson was waiting to score the perfect wingers goal.

This woke Basingstoke up who started attacking with purpose and only some some strong tackling from the entire Romsey defence and great saves from Man of the Match Craig Mellor, giving his best performance yet, kept Basingstoke out.

Romsey continued to attack and a well worked short involving Stand in Captain Pete Cooper forced a great save from the Basingstoke’s keeper. Romsey looked to have scored a second near the end of the first half when there was some lovely link up play between Cooper and Dave Thomson down the right releasing Cooper down the line to smash a cross to top D, where Martin Simpson-Scott waited to stop the ball and then slam it to the bottom right corner. However the umpires decided it had clipped the back of Botto’s stick on the way to Simpson-Scott and ruled it out harshly.

After half time romsey came out and continued to work hard in defence and all over the pitch including some awesome midfield work and near misses coming from Danny Nicoll and Adam Butler. But Romsey were relieved when the final whistle went concluding there hardest fought win of the season.

This took them up into the sought after third place in the league and carried on their great form in the push for promotion.

A determined Romsey Men 3rd XI took the push back on Saturday while the rain soaked last night’s gel through the eyes of all players on the pitch! Romsey were determined to take the win after losing out to Blandford & Sturminster earlier in the season and put behind them the game against Hamble.

Strong play hit Romsey hard with the first goal coming only minutes into the game from Blandford. A strong strike at top D left keeper Craig Mellor stranded on his line and unable to prevent. With spectators cheering for Romsey to turn the game around, Romsey placed their head in the game at hand and focused on playing strong hockey.
The first of Romsey’s goals came when Jon Marsh drove the ball into the D after some fantastic triangle play in midfield to make a dummy slip right to pick out Martin Simpson-Scott to strike the ball hard into the backboard. Blandford didn’t take this lying down and came back to pressure Romsey’s half but couldn’t find composure to allow Romsey to win the play back and drive towards their goal.

Vice-Captain Pete Cooper was able to draw the play out far left on the base line to pick out Man of The Match Mark McArdle along the base line, just within the D. What was confessed as ‘meant to be a pass’ became the goal of the season for the 3rd XI as McArdle played a reverse stick hit on the base line. Everyone watched in amazement as the ball slipped neatly passed the keeper’s right foot making the score 2-1 to Romsey.

Further strong play came from Romsey before the half time whistle with Captain Clark creating a penalty corner opportunity. Simpson-Scott injected the ball to top D for Marsh to dummy switch the ball again to Vice-Captain Cooper who struck the ball to the bottom left post for Simpson-Scott to take his second goal of the match making the score a comfortable 3-1 at half time. A quick half time team talk was given ensuring Romsey keep their head focussed in the game at hand and play their strong hockey to capitalise further.

Another goal came from ever reliable Simpson-Scott soon after the half time break with another strong strike at top D following impressive switching play in Romsey’s defence between Dave Thomson and Lucas Suleja. Suleja picked out Tom Knell to drive the ball up to the half way line picking out Danny Nicoll in centre field who made a swift pass to Jamie Botto to drive towards the D who picked out Simpson-Scott to drive the ball home.

Not long afterwards, Blandford found Romsey looking for a bigger lead with J Robinson making some fantastic solo effort dancing around 3 defenders. Robinson made a reverse sweep to Marsh while drawing Blandford’s keeper off his line to strike at goal finding a defenders foot on the line giving Romsey a penalty stroke. With Simpson-Scott off the field, Captain Clark stood up to the plate to take the stroke. The initial stroke saw Clark flick the ball directly at the keeper’s pads at slow pace. Blandford players came running up to congratulate the keeper on saving the ball only to be told that it must be taken again as the keeper stepped off his line before Clark made his play. Could Captain Clark forget that poor try and capitalise? As the whistle blew again, Clark was able to dummy the ball to the keeper’s weak side, only 6 inches off the floor, to make the score 5-1 to Romsey.

With only 5 minutes left in the game Blandford kept the pressure strong by penetrating Romsey’s D on several occasions, the final of which saw keeper Mellor diving for the ball. Mellor made a fantastic initial save, hitting the ball out with his stick. The ball fell to Blandford to strike again. After what could only be described as ‘Bundle’ for the ball, the second penalty stroke was given in the game. Mellor judged the play perfectly to dive to his right. However, was only a mere inch away from the save. But the goal made no difference. The game finished 5-2 to Romsey.

Nope! It’s not an interesting new title for a Harry Potter book! But a battle certainly took place for 4th place in the league between Romsey and Hamble 4 with both teams showing strong play and equal ball possession.

Romsey proved they have come a long way since starting out as a new team this season by making strong tackles and passing the ball in triangles making sure Hamble had to work hard if they wanted the win. Key play came from Martin Simpson-Scott with his quick dribbling around players, Jon Marsh with his strong determination to hold Hamble out and goalkeeper Craig Mellor with his strong presence in the D.

Romsey created several chances and shots on target including a reverse stick pass across the D from Captain Matt Clark with Danny Nicoll just unable to get the deflection and big strikes on target from Mark McArdle who saw his shots get powerfully saved from the strong Hamble keeper.

Despite the score line, Hamble had no strikes on goal in the entire game, with all 3 goals coming from penalty corners after finding a Romsey foot while moving around just inside the D. The third goal on a short corner came after a hard tackle from Tom Knell nearly 8 meters outside of the D. Romsey protested against the call with Hamble’s umpire, but the decision stood.

Man of the Match player Lucas Seluja was on top form by stopping every player that came near him and making key runs up the pitch to pick out switching plays to Vice Captain Pete Cooper and Dave Dodge.
Hamble’s reliable keeper narrowly saved Romsey’s final short corner of the game after a perfect stop at top of the D and Captain Clark’s clean strike was sailing perfectly to bottom left corner. But it wasn’t meant to be.
The game finished 3-0 but, despite the loss, Romsey have walked away with a strong sense of achievement on how far they have progressed as a team. Captain Clark stated after the game that he was “proud to be the 3rd XI’s Captain looking at all the skills and knowledge the players have picked up and is looking forward to the next game against Blandford.”

The men 3rd XI took the important win on Saturday giving them the move up to 5th place in the Hampshire Division 10 table beating Yateley a massive 6-1!

Yateley took the push back at Frogmore Centre with the low winter sun beaming into player’s faces. Romsey wasted no time and swiftly won back the ball and begun playing the strong hockey they have been working hard on since the Christmas break. Romsey made lots of space playing the width of the field creating the channels for key plays from Martin Simpson-Scott, Steven White and Man of the Match Jon Marsh to attack Yateley’s D.
The first goal came from Vice Captain Pete Cooper after a big run up the pitch from just before the half way line. Cooper was dribbled the ball with precision and was able to fool players on several occasions before driving into the D and firing a rocket into the top right hand corner of the goal with Yateley barely moving to stop the ball.

Yateley made some strong attacks in Romsey’s half but were only able to make it into the D a couple of times throughout the game. The first of which saw Yateley equalising when there was a fumble for the ball after an initial diving save from Craig Mellor. Cooper was just unable to stretch for the ball and watched in horror as it trickled pass the line.

Romsey were undone by this and fought back and penetrated Yateley’s D. Simpson-Scott took a big strike, which was kicked on the line by a defender. The umpire blew for a penalty stroke, which Simpson-Scott took. The powerful flick was fired directly at the keeper but as he fell backwards into the D the ball came loose and went in making it 2-1 to Romsey.

The 3rd goal came close to half time when a quick run from Tom Knell up the right wing was able to pick out Marsh who switched the ball left to Captain Matt Clark. Clark made a quick pass to Simpson-Scott and quickly laid the ball to White who made a reverse stick shot at top of the D. The ball floated slowly in the air like a feather and passed over the keeper’s head sending Romsey into a comfortable lead for half time.

The second half was underway as Clark took the push back for Romsey. Clark passed direct to Simpson-Scott who dribbled ball up the left wing with Clark in support. After running into trouble Clark made a powerful pass back to Blake Cookson in defence who switched first to Dave Thomson on the left to draw the play. Thomson drew the attackers out perfectly and switched the ball back to Cookson who the made a strong pass wide to the right to Lucas Suleja. Suleja picked out Danny Nicoll who made a strong run up field and passed across to Marsh. Marsh drove the ball further and switched quick back to Cooper who drove into the D and smashed the ball on target. An initial save from Yateley’s keeper saw the ball fall to the stick of Simpson-Scott who slipped the ball into the top of the net.

Further play from Romsey created several chances for a goal including impressive shots from Knell, Marsh, Nicoll and Clark. Romsey were able to find a Yateley foot within the D to take another penalty corner. Simpson-Scott injected the ball to top D, Marsh stopped and Cookson struck it powerfully into the bottom right corner, shaking the goal. After playing for Romsey for a few years, this makes Cookson’s first goal for the club. Naturally a few high fives were called for!

Barely a minute later Romsey were in Yateley’s D again. Knell picked out Clark at top D who hit on his powerful reverse stick but just went wide by an inch. After Yatley took the 16, Marsh won the ball back and drove to towards the D and switched to Simspon-Scott. Playing in a triangle Simpson-Scott passed right to Nicoll who fired the ball into the D to White who created a perfect deflection making the score line a massive 6-1 just before the final whistle.

Romsey took the push back at their home ground Saturday as the second half to the season began and Romsey started their bid to climb back up the table from their current position.

Romsey wasted no time in an impressive game of strong play, heavy possession and hockey skill against Fleet and Ewshot. After the pushback was taken by Captain Matt Clark passing back to Martin Simspon-Scott, Romsey made their way straight to Fleet’s goal and Clark to his first strike with a reverse stick shot, which just went wide.
Before Fleet could think about what had just happened Romsey were able to take the ball back to pressure into the D. Several shots came on target from J Robinson, Jon Marsh, Steve White and Simpson-Scott with some impressive skill work by dancing around players. Romsey didn’t have to wait long for their first goal though with Steve White driving the ball into the D and picking out Simson-Scott on the top right. Simpson-Scott made a quick reverse stick pass to Clark who made a powerful strike to goal with the keeper making an impressive save. However, with the ball stuck under him, a big rush to find the ball came. Clark saw the ball trickle out from behind the keeper and wasted no time to hook the ball out and score for his team.

Shortly afterwards a strange incident occurred when a Fleet player collided with Romsey player Dave Thomson. The Fleet player had lost a tooth cap?! Both teams turned forensic detectives and walked in a line across the pitch to find the tooth, which was quickly found and play was resumed.

All the excitement made Fleet bring the score level when they were able to penetrate Romsey’s D on the left side across the base line. The ball was quickly passed across the D with Romsey keeper, Craig Mellor, diving to the ball but just missing leaving Fleet able to find the backboard.

With their heads right in the game Romsey wasted no time in changing the score line. After a quick side line ball taken by Clark making his way up across the pitch he quickly struck the ball hard across the top of the D picking out Simpson-Scott who took the ball around the left side and made a shot on goal. Danny Nicoll saw the opportunity and placed his stick in the ball’s path deflecting it beautifully into the right of the goal.
After a half time talk Romsey came back on and made further improvements to this already strong game. A quick ball was taken for a long corner and driven into Fleet’s D by White who picked out Simpson-Scott at top D and fired a rocket to the bottom left backboard.

Continuous movement off the ball and strong passing play around key players on the whole field including strong runs from Blake Cookson, Lucas Suleja, Vice-Captain Pete Cooper and Dave Dodge saw Fleet unable to gain possession. A few heavy tackles saw Thomson Green carded and warned by the umpire. But this did not faze him and quickly won the ball back, running up the right wing, laying the ball off to Cooper who flicked left to Man of the Match Mark McArdle who made a clean reverse stick shot at top D leaving the keeper unable to position himself making the score line 4-1.

Romsey had several close occasions with shots on target from Marsh, Robsinson, White, Nicoll and Simpson-Scott. In the dying minutes of the game Robsinson was able to burst into the D two on one with Clark against the keeper. Robsinson pulled the ball back perfectly but saw the keeper just getting his stick to the ball.
The score line finish 4-1. Romsey now sit on joint points with two other teams in the league. A win on Saturday’s coming game can mean a climb up the league table.

The 3rd XI also would like to wish their player Alex Halcoussis a speedy recovery who has recently sustained a nasty head injury. ‘You will be back to your Hockey ways before you know it, buddy!’

RHC Christmas Game 2011

Snowmen 4 vs Reindeers 2

Christmas cheer was in the air on Saturday, as the men and women of Romsey Hockey Club got into the Christmas spirit with their annual fancy dress intra-club hockey match. This year saw the Snowmen take on the Reindeers.

Both teams took a while to get going. The Snowmen, whilst enjoying the frosty morning, struggled to play under the bulk of hats, scarf’s and carrot noses while the Reindeer’s were hampered with a variety of fur and antler problems in the windy conditions!

Eventually the deadlock was broken by the Reindeers, who were quick to break in numbers and infiltrate the Snowmen’s melting defenc before The Snowmen grabbed an equaliser just before half time.

The second half got under-way with the Snowmen attempting to confuse the Reindeers, with Snowman midfield duo Will Archibald and Joe Welch, launching several aerial balls deep into the Reindeer’s back line. One such ball provided Guy Taylor a tidy route to goal.

The Reindeer retaliated with some piercing attacks instigated and finished by James-One-Antler-Boggis while Amy Welch and Monty Roberts caused yet more havock at the back for the Snowmen, allowing the Reindeer’s to prance their way into the lead.

Further Snowmen goals came from Matt Clark, and Ella Palmer who both finished with finesse that was only bettered by their cartwheeling goal celebrations!

Penne Edwards, despite starting the day as the Snowman with the longest carrot nose, put aside her Frosty the Snowman hat, and umpired the game magnificently,

Costumes of the match go to Jane Wheeler, for her fabulous Reindeer costume, fluffy belly and shiny red nose. And on the Snowmans’s team, Ella Palmer lead the way with her snowman costume, delicately finished off by her button nose!

Romsey Men 3rd XI took to the ships and sailed to the Isle of Wight for their final came before the Christmas break on 10th December. Well, they actually took the Southampton ferry. But it makes it sound more dramatic!
Romsey took the push back at Smallbrook Stadium and due to umpiring issues were sadly down to 10 men. But the hockey played suggested it was an even playing field!
Romsey were able to make quick interceptions of IOW’s play and made several attempts on target at goal. Some amazing play came from Jon Marsh, Blake Cookson and Guy Taylor to drive the ball through the channels. Man of the Match, Mark McArdle, was able to penetrate on several occasions picking out the Romsey players. However, the IOW keeper was on good form diving left, right and centre to ensure zero goals went in. However, Romsey came very close to it when a powerful reverse stick shot came from Captain Matt Clark at the top of the D just missed the top left corner of the goal.
However, due to the man down IOW were able to make some quick breaks into the D and sadly made the score line a massive 8-0 against Romsey. But Romsey kept their heads high, held their play to the bitter end and had a lot of fun playing the game. Even the IOW commented on how much of a good sport the Romsey team were after the game. (They even liked the bandanas that all the Romsey team were wearing. Even Craig Mellor had one on over his keeper kit!)
With the winter break now here Romsey know what to work on. Plenty of training sessions ahead to drive the 3rd XI up the table!!!…………………….And I think the team are keeping the bandanas!

Romsey Men 3rd XI played some exceptional hockey at their home ground on Saturday as they played Portsmouth Sharks. Romsey took the push back and used full width and depth of the field making some strong passes throughout all players making the Sharks having to work very hard to even get a touch to the ball. Romsey were quick to react to all of the attempts the Sharks made to drive the ball to the goal and were able to pile the pressure back on their back-line having many shots on target but unable to find the goal.
The scoring opened when the Sharks were able to squeeze past Romsey’s defense and just managed to get the ball in the bottom right of the goal with keeper Craig Mellor diving for the ball and just unable to get his stick to it. But their celebrations were short lived when Romsey hit back hard penetrating Portsmouth’s D with Captain Matt Clark creating a penalty corner by finding a players foot. Martin Simpson-Scott took the push out strongly to a stop by Jon Marsh who quickly fooled the runner, slipped left finding Vice Captain Pete Cooper to fire a rocket just off the floor finding the back board making it extremely difficult to defend.
A quick half time talk and Romsey came back even stronger finding yet another penalty corner. Simpson-Scott took a dummy push out to Vice Captain Cooper to pass it across the D to Danny Nicoll who sent the ball to the far post to find Simpson-Scott and get the goal.
Portsmouth wouldn’t let this lie and attacked hard to find the equaliser. They created a penalty corner after finding a Romsey player’s foot. The Sharks played a strong drag flick that even Richard Mantell would be proud of finding their 2nd goal.
The score-line remained at 2-2 for nearly all the game. Romsey made fantastic effort through key players as Alex Halcoussis, Danny Nicoll, J Robinson and Tom Knell. Romsey even made some awesome runs of the whole pitch from returning player Mark McAdle, after a long injury, and Dave Dodge.
Within the dying minutes of the game Romsey got their 3rd goal by a fantastic run across to the D from J Robinson finding Simpson-Scott to hit a powerful reverse stick from the top of the D. Romsey thought that was it. They were that close! Victory was near. But it wasn’t meant to be. With only 30 seconds left of the game the Sharks were able to break Romsey’s D and were able to fool Craig Mellor to slide out the wrong direction making the score 3-3.
As the whistle blew Romsey were pleased with their performance throughout the game. Yeah, victory was close. But the hockey played showed how far the Men’s 3rd XI have come over the season. With two games left before the winter break Romsey are coming out fighting and determined.