Romsey hosted Southampton on Sunday 14th of October.
Heavy overnight and morning rain meant for a damp start to proceedings , the first half was very tight with the best chances falling to Romsey and attackers Neve A , Jess G and Anna R were regularly getting into the D but the Southampton’s goal keeper was on good form snuffing out several chances .
Romseys defence was very strong with good work from Alex O and Katie S ably assisted by Ellie E , Zara M and Antonia L .They were regularly making some excellent interceptions and feeding the ball in midfield where Clara H and Liz F were pushing the ball forward well .
The half finished with no score but Romsey were on top . The second half got underway and Romsey carried on in the same vain winning a succession of short corners after some great work down the right wing from Grace M .
It wasn’t long before the break through came with great battling work from Jess G which resulted in a ball crossing the face of the goal where Ella M had taken up a superb position to calmly slot the ball home. 1-0 to Romsey !
This spurred Southampton on and now they were looking the most dangerous they had all match , they were putting the Romsey defence under more pressure and brought a couple good saves from Romsey goal keeper Daisy R. Unfortunately a goal mouth scramble ended with Southampton scoring. 1-1.
Romsey tried to regain the momentum which saw good work in the midfield from Emily J working the ball well to Neve A who almost weaved her way through into the D.
Time was running out and Romsey were caught out on the break and the Southampton forwards poured forward and with only 2 minutes to go they got a short corner . They worked it well and had a shot which went through a crowd of players and agonisingly crossed the line , visibly the Romsey players heads went down , it was a cruel way to loose the match after all the effort they had put in .
Well played Southampton and unlucky Romsey , but a good match to watch .
Player of the match – Jess G , good battling up front !
U10s start well at Bournemouth Festival
In lovely autumn sun, Bournemouth hosted the first mini hockey tournament of the season. Romsey entered with only one U10 team of 9 players in a tournament with 16 teams in total and where big clubs like Trojan’s and Bournemouth had three teams each.
With a new mix of children, the team skills like passing, spreading out, talking to each other and not to have more then one player on the ball at the time will improve with training but it was clear that we had a group,of very keen hockey players.
First game against Andover 2 was a bit of a warm up for both teams. “Careful” hockey was played and only in the last few minutes of the match, Andover scored the only goal into an empty Romsey goal.
The second game was more energetic and teams very equal. Charlie had one attempt to score but just missed the goal post in a match that ended up 0-0.
Third game was against Bournemouth 3 and they started strong by breaking through Maya’s defence and scoring already after a couple of minutes. A short corner by Oscar to Fred and then to Dylan saw the first Romsey goal of the day. Teamwork was great in a section of passing from Lily, to Fred and Oscar who scored the 2 nd goal but after that Bournemouth took a strong grip of the game and delivered two further goals in a match that ended 2-4 to Bournemouth.
Despite a bit deflated of the “crush” in previous game Romsey re-charged and we saw six great goal being scored against New Forest 2. Charlie score the first hat trick and Oscar scored two and Dylan one. Match result, 6-0 to Romsey.
A strong Bournemouth 2 was up against us in the last game of the day and they scored straight away. Romsey made the score even one by “un named” player but couldn’t stand against Bournemouth strong play and the game finished 1-2.
Great effort from all players; Camilla, Maya, Lily Rose, Hugo, Fred, Benji, Charlie, Oscar and Dylan. Thank you to Carl and Jen for coaching the team.
Romsey – Andover 2 => 0-1
Romsey – Southampton 2=> 0-0
Romsey – Bournemouth 3 => 2-4
Romsey-New Forest 2 => 6-0
Romsey – Bournemouth 2 => 1-2
U16 Girls Soggy Sunday
Romsey under16 girls traveled to Petersfield in awful wet and windy conditions for their first game of the season .
The team was bolstered with the addition of four U14 girls playing up , Neve A, Zara M, Katie R and Suzie H. The first half was under way and Romsey were soon on the attack with Clara H and Ella M advancing through the midfield well and Neve A put the Petersfield defence under pressure with some good attacking play.
This prompted Petersfield into action and a series of attacks came from the left winger who had electric pace. Romseys defence held firm with fantastic tackles from Zara M and Alex O ably supported by Antonia L and Ellie E .
Romsey tried to build again down the right with Grace M and Katie R linking up well but again the Petersfield defence foiled another attack. Petersfield broke again with their speedy winger and before you could blink they took the lead with a nicely taken finish.
Petersfield were now on top and before half time they managed to score two more to give them a 3-0 halftime lead .
The second half started and Romsey pushed forward with Jess G working hard down the line and getting the ball into the D creating another chance for Romsey but great defending from Petersfield again . Petersfield broke again and again and scored another quick two goals , however the Romsey team kept going and were still attacking and Anna R was almost through on goal before being pulled down by a Petersfield defender (it was one of those games ) .
Romsey were still defending very well Susie H , Ellie E along with Alex G made some great interceptions and Antonia L made a super last gasp tackle however it could not stop Petersfield adding to there score . As much as the midfield and forwards were pushed on by Clara H they just could not get the ball over the goal line , however it was 100% effort all round and the scoreline was not a complete reflection on the game . Pertersfield 7 -0 Romsey
Player of the Match – Clara H , well played !