Author: Stuart Robertson

Romsey looked to gain revenge for a 3-1 away defeat 3 months ago, when they cub ended twice in the final minutes in the home fixture at Ganger Farm.

Romsey started brightly and Tom W combined with debutant Shaun Coote to play in Jamie Bundy down the right early on which set a positive pattern of play. 

Bundy found himself able to shoot, but his effort went narrowly wide.

Martin S-S then combined with Richard Austin to allow Bundy another chance but it was cleared away.

With the home side on top captain Colin Harwood found himself in the circle and his shot was smothered by the keeper but as the keeper looked to clear the ball it ran away from him and in to the goal and over the line by the post it give Romsey a 1-0 lead.

New Forest pushed forward try and recover but Rob Cav, Simeon Field and Freddie OH all got to opposition passes first to clear any danger. 

Then Romsey created the move of the match with Pete OH playing the ball to Tom W, he passed to Chris Harwood down the left and gave the ball to Simpson-Scott to scream a pass to Harwood at the top of the circle, rather than stop and shoot, Harwood deftly passed the ball first time to Man of The Match Jamie Bundy on the right of the circle who controlled the ball and smashed it inside the far boast to double Romsey’s lead, which is at remained at Half time.

The second half saw New Forest up their game and a deflection from Pete OH saw a Forest chance bounce back off the post. 
This saw Forest galvanise further and they equalised from a penalty corner which was almost blocked by Field but was returned in from the right for the Forest captain to pull one back. 

Romsey needed their Keeper Nigel King to take control of the defence now and he did a king like job to keep Forest out with some fine saves, one which saw the ball loop up over and then cleared off the line by Pete OH.

Forest put the ball in the goal, after a penalty corner had been awarded and Romsey cleared the corner and then used the outlets of Bundy and Sean Rawles to relieve pressure and see the game out for a 2-1 win and 3 points. 

13 Romsey heroes gained a point from a terrific encounter in Dorset, in an game that was a see saw of a match.

While Romsey started strongly Tom W linking up early on down the left, with Jamie Buddy they couldn’t find the final pass to set up Sean Rawles to get a shot away.

As the game swung in favour of Swanage Lukasz Markham twice came to the rescue with last ditch tackles before Swanage won a penalty corner. As Pete O’Hara and Simeon Field ran out the Swanage forward dragged an unstoppable shot in to the top corner to give the home side the lead.

Romsey played well to get back in to the game but fell further behind when a fierce shot across the Romsey circle was pushed home first time for 2-0.

Carl Hendy came on for Rawles and was unlucky when Rich Pearce crossed the ball in following a penalty corner play, for Hendy to touch the ball goal bound only for a defender on the line to clear it.

Hendy produced a team talk at half time that raised Romsey spirits and with keeper Nigel King making it clear Romsey were in this game the second half began.

A resurgent Romsey kept the ball well, and as the ball fell loose in the middle of the pitch Colin Harwood called for it, allowing Pearce to continue a run past him. Harwood turned and played the ball to Pearce who ran in to the circle and shot, the keeper saved but the ball fell to Bundy to push the ball in a pull a goal back for the visitors.

As Romsey piled the pressure on Rob Cav and Freddie OH commanded the right hand side of the pitch and eventually created an opening for Harwood to drill the ball hard across the circle from wide on the right, a deft touch from Rawles saw the ball fall to Pearce to thump home an equaliser.

With Swanage rattled, Harry Morris made some fantastic runs down the right and was really unlucky not to get a touch to play in Hendy, but he got his rewards when he linked up with Tom W and as he played the ball in to the circle it hit a Swanage foot but the ball fell to Harwood to unleash a rocket of a strike to make it 3-2 and a roar of celebrations.

Swanage rallied and with 2 minutes remaining kept the ball in the Romsey end, eventually winning a penalty corner. As the first corner was closed down by Pete OH foot a second was awarded. While the defending team did their best, the ball fell to a Swanage stick to push the ball past Romsey sticks on the line for a 3-3 final score line.
A game where hockey was the winner Rich Pearce was man of the match and Hendy’s half time team talk was an inspiration.