Romsey Hockey Club

Romsey Mens 2nd XI 0-1 US Portmouth

Romsey mens 2nd XI were edged out 0-1 in a very tight match against US Portsmouth to end their fourth season in fourth place in Hampshire Div 7, having been promoted for each of their first three seasons.

The match itself was not a great spectacle. Both sides were highly competitive in midfield and strong at the back and it was a game of few chances. The match was also marred by careless tackling from both sides, and Jamie Voller can count himself very unlucky to be sin binned for two tackles which were no worse than many others which were not penalised at all.

Man of the match Monty Roberts worked tirelessly all match, giving the USP back line a torrid time, and was unlucky not to score the opener to the home side when Josh Bishop broke into the D before firing across the goal for Roberts to deflect the ball just wide and Colin Harwood unable to steer home at the left hand post. Carl Hendy shot wide from eight yards.

USP had their chances as well, one producing a brilliant save from Tom Gibson in the Romsey goal, and another goal bound shot cleared off the line in mid air by Jim Ponsford.

The goal when it came was not pretty. A speculative cross was half stopped by Stuart Robertson and broke fortuitously to a USP forward on the right hand post with the space to shovel home.

Romsey Mens 1st XI 5-1 Fareham
Romsey Mens 1st XI recorded a 5-1 victory over Fareham at Henry Cort School to secure 2nd place in Hampshire Div 2 and to win a third straight promotion, which is also amazingly their eighth promotion in nine years.
Tom McCarthy opened the scoring from a penalty corner routine when Jack Forrest-Charde picked him out at the left hand post for a tap in. Ben Mullan added a second from another penalty corner, picking up the bits after the initial shot was stopped by the Fareham keeper.
Tom McCarthy added a third from yet another penalty corner with a deft deflection at close range which left the keeper with no chance.
Romsey’s fourth goal, their only one from open play featured most of the team as the ball was moved with great speed, and culminated with Neil Strong diving full length to steer the ball home.
McCarthy completed his hattrick when Ben Mullan was twice denied by the Fareham keeper, so squared the loose ball for McCarthy to finish neatly.
Fareham were able to grab a late consolation in unusual circumstances when Dave Miles cleared a penalty corner strike off the line, only for the clearance to touch the back of keeper Loz scott’s stick. Somewhat dubiously Fareham were awarded a penalty flick which keeper Scott could not keep out.

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 Mens 1st XI 13-0 New Milton
Romsey mens 1st XI hammered 13 past a hapless New Milton to close in on automatic promotion and to make 2nd place their own in Hampshire Div 2.
4 goals for midfielder Ben Mullan, 5 from winger Tom McCarthy, and two each from Neil Strong and Jack Forrest-Charde were far too much for a weakened New Milton side.
Ben Mullan opened the scoring, then Tom McCarthy quickly added a second. Mullan crashed in another from the top of the D and then Neil Strong added another to make it 4-0 to the home side. Jack Forrest-Charde fired high into the top right hand corner, then Mullan pick off two more, Forrest-Charde and then McCarthy for a half time lead of 9-0.
After the break Neil Strong grabbed another and McCarthy notched up a second half hattrick finished off in style as he broke from the 25 into the D before dummying around the keeper to tap in.
A win next week against mid table Fareham will seal second place and yet another promotion for the high flying 1st XI.

Romsey Mens 2nd XI 3-0 Basingstoke
The home side created the early chances, but could get no change out of the re-jigged Romsey back line of Andrew Archibald, Jamie Voller and Dave Andrews. After 10 minutes however, Romsey took a grip on the game they would never relinquish, characterised by a high tempo which was too hot for the home side to handle.
On 20 minutes Romsey took a deserved lead when Josh Bishop broke into the D and fired a shot from the top of the D, the ’stoke keeper could only parry it away and Colin Harwood was on hand to crash in from the acutest of angles to draw level with Carl Hendy as leading scorer. Romsey wingers James Boggis and Lucas Cross were running riot, but Romsey could force nothing more and went in at half time 1-0 ahead.
After the break, Basingstoke pressed briefly for an equaliser but found keeper Tom Gibson in great form and could not turn their pressure into goals.
It was Bishop once again the creator to break the shackles, pouncing on a weak pass before breaking with pace up the pitch and into the D, before beating the keeper and rolling the ball goalwards for arch-predator Carl Hendy to latch onto and tap in to go one goal ahead of Harwood and put Romsey 2-0 up.
In the Romsey centre Matt Munro was enjoying a dominant performance, and it was he who created the opportunity for Josh Bishop to put his name on the scoresheet. A killer pass found Bishop unmarked in the D to turn and crash past the ’stoke keeper and in of the inside of the post for a 3-0 lead, and to secure all three points.

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 mens 1st XI 1-1 Southampton University
Romsey mens 1st XI clawed back a one goal deficit to become only the second team this season to take points from the runaway leaders of Hampshire Div 2.
Romsey keeper Loz Scott was in action early beating out a penalty corner, but came unstuck at the second time of asking as a penalty corner routine seemed to go wrong, and in the confusion a uni forward appered at the right hand post to sweep in a backhand shot and put the students into the lead.
Tom McCarthy opened up the home side with a great run down the left wing before feeding Will Savage to beat two defenders before shooting narrowly wide. Another McCarthy break down the left saw the visitors up in arms after McCarthy’s pass found Jack

Forrest-Charde whose goal bound shot seemed to hit the uni defender on the foot on the goal line. Romsey as one pleaded for a penalty stroke, but the umpires were unmoved and Uni breathed a sigh of relief. Tom Posford released Lewis Birch on the right flank who fired a great square pass to McCarthy at the left hand post but the winger’s shot crept around the post.
Will Savage saw yellow moments later for a crude shove which sent the uni forward sprawling and Savage into the bin for five minutes. Forrest-Charde drew a good save from the uni keeper when his drag flick was beaten wide, and some wonderful skill by Ben Mullan drew another moments later.
When Savage returned to action his mazy run and shot drew yet another save at the near post. Ben Mullan went close after another lovely move, and moments after that Loz Scott produced a brilliant save to deny a bullet drag flick and keep the half time score 0-1 to uni.
Early in the second period Mullan and Forrest-Charde combined to release Savage into the D but his shot found the side netting.
Scott produced another save to keep out a deflected effort, before Romsey constructed the move of the game. Skipper Dave Miles won the ball close to his own goal line, produced some dazzling skills to retain possession before releasing the Forrest-Charde/Mullan combination to maraud forward before finding Tom Ponsford in space on the right. The uni keeper half stopped the shot and the home defence scrambled the ball clear.
Late in the half Romsey found an equaliser. Romsey forced a penalty corner and the students appeared to have cleared the danger. The loose ball broke to Ponsford who arrowed a pass to Mullan on the penalty spot whose first time strike flew past the keeper into the roof of the net, the match finishing 1-1.

Romsey Mens 2nd XI 2-2 Gillingham
Romsey Mens 2nd XI dragged a creditable draw from Gillingham at home after losing out narrowly 1-2 in the first half of the season. The first half full of quality hockey from both sides, but neither could break the deadlock. Gillingham were showing Romsey a little too much respect in possession, but the home side were lingering too long on the ball, and were unable to make the breakthrough and went in 0-0 at half time.
In a break with recent form against the better sides in the division, Romsey took the lead when Colin Harwood latched onto a rebound to tap in from close range after leading scorer Carl Hendy had seen his shot beaten out early in the second half.
The match continued at a high tempo, with both sides committed to playing open and flowing hockey.
The away side bit back thanks to a left hand post tap in after a pass into the D had eluded everyone on its way through.
As the second period wore on, Gillingham’s relative youth began to tell, and the visitors took a deserved lead, although the manner of scoring was unfortunate. Dave Loescher’s 16 yard hit was picked off by the Gillingham forward line, but were forced out wide. Shooting speculatively from a narrow angle, a shot which might have gone wide was deflected into the Romsey goal by keeper Tom Gibson.
Romsey never gave up however continuing to apply pressure into the dying minutes of the match, and were rewarded with a late equaliser when Josh Bishop burst into the D and fired in a low shot against the keepers pads. The rebound bounced kindly for Harwood to force home through the slenderest of gaps between pad and post to earn a well deserved point.

Romsey Mens 1st XI 9-0 Tadley
Romsey Mens 1st XI enjoyed a resounding victory over Tadley scoring nine without reply to move back into the promotion places.
Ben Mullan opened the scoring, shunting home from 6 yards before Tom McCarthy made it two on the half volley after some neat approach play from Jack Forrest-Charde. Mullan turned provider for the third, threading a penetrative pass through to McCarthy to beat the keeper low to his right. Lewis Birch added another and then Mullan added his second with a bullet strike from the top of the D to make it 5-0. Tom Ponsford got in on the act to notch up Romsey’s sixth then Josh Bishop fired a pass deep into the D for McCarthy to deflect beyond the keeper. McCarthy took on the creative role, dribbling around the back to feed Forrest-Charde who made no mistake from 4 yards out. The scoring was concluded by Lewis Birch who picked the defenders pocket before darting into the D, dummied the keeper and danced the ball into an empty goal. With Weymouth losing out to leaders Southampton University, Romsey move back into second with the run away leaders next up.

Romsey Mens 2nd XI 3-1 Southampton
Romsey mens 2nd XI recorded another comfortable victory against Southampton on saturday, although, as with so many of Romsey’s recent results, the margin should have been much greater.
Romsey dominated the early phases of the match and went into an early lead when James Boggis latched onto the loose ball after Carl Hendy’s shot was saved.
Romsey then gave away an equaliser when Jamie Voller was caught in two minds as to who to pass to, and fell over instead. Southampton pounced on the slip, quickly squaring for a snap finish to level the scores. Late in the half Romsey went ahead when Boggis fed Matt Munro who flicked past the keeper from wide on the right of the D to make the half time score 2-1 to the visitors.
The second half followed much the same pattern as the first, Romsey applying the pressure, Southampton dragging ten men behind the ball and trying to catch Romsey on the break. Voller, Dave Loescher and Jim Ponsford were having none of it however, and Southamptons chances were limited to the occasional foray as far as the attcking 23 before the threat was quickly snuffed out. In the end Romsey did force a third to make the game safe when Monty Roberts neatly swivelled and shot low into the right hand corner, and the match finished 3-1 to Romsey

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.

Romsey Mens 1st XI 4-2 Portsmouth & Southsea
Romsey mens 1st XI won a bitter battle against Portsmouth & Southsea to bounce back from a disappointing defeat at the hands of Winchester to hold onto Weymouth’s coat-tails and remain in with a chance of promotion this season.
P&S took an early lead after 10 minutes, only for Ben Mullan to drag Romsey level 5 minutes later. Ash Cooper scored on his debut to put Romsey ahead before P&S grabbed an equaliser for 2-2 after some sloppy work in the Romsey back line.
After the half time break, the match became more and more aggressive, the umpires distributing 5 green cards and two yellows, one of which was for Will Savage for dissent.
Shortly after Savage returned to the fray, Ben Mullan, man of the match in wonderful form in the Romsey midfield burst through the home defence and fired a snap shot into the bottom corner to take Romsey into the lead. Then five minutes later, a rapid exchange of passes released Jack Forrest-Charde 10 meters out to nutmeg the keeper and make amens after missing a penalty stroke in the first half.

Romsey Mens 2nd XI 2-0 Wimborne Wayfarers
It is almost more revealing to catalogue the missed chances in a match where Romsey were utterly dominant, allowing Wimborne Zero attempts on target in a thoroughly one sided affair at Romsey Community School. Carl Hendy had as many chances in this game as he has scored goals this season, and although he converted one to record Romsey’s second will feel aggrieved not to have registered more. Colin Harwood went close on a number of occasions, Dave Loescher and Skipper Stuart Robertson fired narrowly wide from penalty corners while Jim East had a drag flick saved. Romsey welcomed back Matt Munro after a long injury lay off for him to hit the post with a viscous strike. Lucas Cross and Monty Roberts were combining well to create a series of chances to no avail, and even full back Dave Andrews got in on the act, making a wonderful run from deep, exchanging passes with Colin Harwood before bringing and excellent save from the keeper.
Lucas Cross might have opened the scoring having found space 3 metres out only to flick against the keepers pads. However, shortly afterwards he was on target, threading a deft flick from the top of the D inside the left hand post.
Towards the end of the half Hendy found Harwood with a neat pass to the top of the D, received the return and knocked in a smart finish.
Romsey will have mixed feelings, delighted to have carved their opponents open again and again whilst remaining defensively impenetrable, but bitterly disappointed not to have scored more.

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.

Romsey Mens 1st XI 2-3 Winchester 3rd XI

Romsey Mens 1st XI lost out against Winchester in a match riddled with ill feeling. Winchester quickly took a 3-0 lead, scoring two soft goals either side of a penalty corner strike which took a massive deflection and looped over stranded keeper Loz Scott.

In the second half Romsey fought back to 2-3 down, the first a beautifully worked passing move involving most of the team, and the second created by a deftly threaded pass from Tom McCarthy from one side of the D to the other to find Jack Forrest-Charde at the left hand post to flick in from a tight angle.

This result sees Romsey slip to 3rd in the Hampshire Div 2 and out of the automatic promotion positions, but is unlikely to save a struggling Winchester team who seem destined to go down.

Romsey Mens 2nd XI 5-6 Winchester
Romsey mens 2nd XI were pipped in the dying moments of the game to end up on the wrong end of an eleven goal thriller at Kings School Winchester.
Romsey began the game slowly and were outplayed in the early exchanges. Winchester’s early pressure was quickly converted into goals. James Bronk latched on to Gary Davis mis hit shot to bash into the bottom corner, and Olly Kelly latched onto a penetrating pass to finish coolly from the p spot. Almost immediately the hosts forced a penalty corner when skipper Stuart Robertson deliberately kicked the ball having lost his stick a moment before and saw yellow for his trouble. From the penalty corner Winchester forward Gary Davis bundled in a goalmouth scramble from close range, and Winchester must have eyed up a rugby score.
However, almost immediately Romsey fought back thanks to a low backhand strike from Greig Stewart who has energised the team since joining after Christmas. Moments later Romsey clawed back another when a penalty corner went awry and Carl Hendy hastily improvised to find Colin Harwood at the left hand post for a short range tap in.
The smile was comprehensively wiped from Winchester faces when Hendy himself tappind in on the backhand to equalise just after half time. Winchester were not to be denied, and rapidly moved into a 5-3 lead when first Ed Kelly converted in a goalmouth scramble, and then Gary Davis knocked in after some deft one touch play.
Still Romsey would not lie down. Lucas Cross picked off a careless 16 yard hit and drove into the D to release Hendy close in for another backhand finish through the Winchester keeper’s legs.
Romsey forced another penalty corner from which Jim East produced a lightning bolt drag flick which the Winchester keeper could only deflect into the roof of the net, and Romset were level again with only two minutes to play.
In the end, Winchester were too good to be kept out, and found the winner when Ed Kelly capitalised on some broken field play to find Olly Kelly unmarked at the right hand post to flick past Tom Gibson in the Romsey net.

Romsey Mens 1st XI 0-2 Havant
Romset Mens 1st XI found themselves on the wrong end of a 2-0 score line away at a frozen Havant. Both of the home side’s goal were scored early in the game, and they seemed to settle for that scoreline very early in the game. In the event it made little difference since Romsey simply could not get going. Passes went astray or were intercepted and many an away player was let down by his first touch. The consolation is that Weymouth, in spite of a solid win will remain behind Romsey in 3rd, and that, with a match in hand over league leaders Southampton University, they are still in touch and should still make the automatics promotion spot.

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.

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.”

Romsey Mens 2nd XI 4-0 Havant

Romsey mens 2nd XI produced a solid win over fellow mid-tablers Havant at the college astro to rise to third in the league, although four teams were unable to play due to the freezing weather.

Romsey debutant and man of the match Greig Stewart opened the scoring, getting himself on the end of a sweeping move initiated by Dave Andrews at right back, who fed Colin Harwood in space to carry deep into Havant territory before finding Stewart at the left of the D to fire home powerfully into the far corner.

Previous man of the match Josh Bishop, continuing his excellent form linked up beautifully with Monty Roberts before firing in a shot of his own. It was well saved, but Stewart latched onto the rebound on the half volley, blasting past the stranded keeper.

Moments later Bishop again tore into the Havant D, but this time his shot was deflected beyond the keeper by Carl Hendy who extends his scoring run to 11 for the season.

Hendy then turned creator, linking up with Roberts on the right, who aimed a pass towards Colin Harwood, whose outrageous dummy left Hendy in yards of space to punch home.

A shell shocked Havant turned round determined to salvage some pride, but were unable to outwit Jim Ponsford and Dave Loescher in the Romsey rearguard. Romsey’s attacking became somewhat one dimensional, and although they were to fashion a number of second half chances, none carried the potent threat of the first period, neither team troubling the scorers in the second half, and the game ended 4-0 to the visitors.

Romey retain a chance of promotion, but will need the teams in 1st, 2nd and 4th to take points off each other.