Romsey were looking to put their lacklustre performance of 2 weeks ago behind them, and came out of the blocks with grim determination to keep possession and capitalise on their chances.This rediscovered attitude paid off early in the first half, when Romsey took the lead, as a Bobs Cooper shot rebounded from the goalie and Emma Beeching volleyed the ball into the net in mid air.Keeping the pressure on Basingstoke for the rest of the half, Romsey consolidated their lead with Erica Jenner launching a fantastic long range pass from defence into the D, finding man of the match Kate Olingschlaeger, whose deft one touch shot found the goal.Coach Dave Miles’ half time talk reminded Romsey to keep hold of the ball and control the game, and Basingstoke found it hard to break through the midfield. Despite having several short corners to defend, Romsey kept a clean sheet, glad to get back to winning ways.
M4s soak up pressure in the Sun
Romsey U10 Hockey team going strong at Salisbury tournament
Salisbury Hockey Club was hosting the U10 tournament on Sunday 10th February. Romsey turned up with an 18 strong squad and the coaches decided to split the teams into Girl versus Boy heavy teams getting them extra practice for the upcoming IN2 hockey tournament. Romsey A was a seven boy and one girl strong team: Maggie, Joe, Ben, Charlie, Oscar, Dylan, Benji and Otto. First match out of five was against Winchester. Romsey started strong with fast dribbling up towards the goal and Dylan scored an early first goal for Romsey assisted by Ben and Charlie. Joe did his first match as a goalie in full kit and managed to withstand Winchesters many shots towards the goal but after a longer battle in front of the Romsey goal, with good defending from Maggie and Oscar, Winchester finally managed to score, and the game ended 1-1.
In the second match Otto was putting on a Southampton bib to make up for their short number of players and he did that with the honour. Romsey had decided to play without a goalie and that played a part when Southampton scored an early goal. Romsey woke up and started to pass much better but despite that Otto managed to score with a lovely straight shot and 2nd goal for Southampton. That triggered Romsey and Oscar played out the ball with his best golf swing that travelled all up along the left side to Ben who then had a successful pass to Dylan who netted the ball and 2-1. Charlie was then up for a fast run with the ball and nice row of passes to Dylan and then onto Joe, who managed to even out the goals towards 2-2.
Third opponent was Bournemouth, which Romsey opened with a quick goal from Oscar and within minutes after the first one he was able to run with the ball again and shot a lovely ball into the corner of the goal, giving Romsey 2-0 lead. Then the games changed and Bournemouth played out the ball and had some successful passes through our defence and into an empty goal and short after that another set of passes from Bournemouth that travelled faster than the Romsey players could run, making it 2-2. Romsey came back with a series of great passes between Oscar – Charlie -Dylan that only just went outside the goal post. Joe had another near goal before Bournemouth over took the game again and scored two goal just before the whistle blew, finishing the game 2-4 to Bournemouth. A raffling and fast game which kept both players and audience on our toes.
The fourth and fifth games were against Salisbury A and D. Joe scored 1-0 assisted by Oscar. Salisbury then had a shot that we thought might be outside the D but was refereed as a goal. Before end of time Romsey scored another goal and game ended 1-2.
In the fifth and final game, Benji started by hitting the nail on the head and fend off the first attempt to a Salisbury goal and after that Romsey showed great teamwork and lots of great passes between each other and Joe assisted Dylan in the first goal. Romsey kept the control of the game and Oscar delivered a nice ball to Dylan, who then assisted Joe to 2-0. Ben had a nice passing from midfielder Otto and Oscar and managed to run with the ball along the side line and score final goal 3-0.
The Romsey supporters were being shown some brilliant hockey from very keen children. As the last game was played the sun came out and warmed us all up and the children could have gone on forever…. Star of the day must go to Maggie for stepping out of her comfort zone and getting stuck into the matches as the sole girl in the team. Well Done Romsey A.
L1s return to winning ways
Romsey Ladies 1XI looked to return to winning ways after losses the last 2 weeks. They travelled to Havant who always provided tough opposition.Romsey started well, placing Havant under some early pressure.Romsey then had a flurry of short corners, although they were unable to convert any of their chances. Romsey then tried a different combination on the next short corner they were awarded – the ball was injected by Robyn C, and picked by Stella B at the top of the D. She hit the ball, which deflected off the defenders stick, and was then picked up off the baseline by Gemma Brown and passed back to Robyn C who slotted it passed the Havant keeper. The score was 1-0 at half time.Romsey looked a bit shakey at the beginning of the second half, feeling the pressure of only having a one goal cushion. The defensive unit of Emily Slade, Gigi H, Jen Metcalfe and Player of the game Jess Preece worked tirelessly at the back, ensuring that any Havant attacks were quickly wiped out, distributing the ball well to the midfielders who looked to link up with the forwards. Romsey worked hard and continued to put the Havant defence under pressure. Romsey had a few shots on goal which were saved by the Havant keeper and defence. After a goal line scramble with Havant trying to clear the ball away, and Romsey trying to put the ball into the goal, Captain Kate Olingschlaeger saw an opportunity and calmly lifted the ball up over the goal keeper who was down on the floor trying to block the way to goal.Romsey continued to push for a 3rd goal, not settling for just a 2-0 win. Emma Beeching passed the ball down the line to Bethan Knights who then passed to Kate Olingschlaeger. Possession was then lost but won back. The ball was passed to Robyn C who was on the 25m line, who then passed it into Zoe H who carried the ball into the D and hit into the bottom corner past the Havant keeper. The final score was 3-0 to Romsey. Romsey host Fareham in next weeks game.
M4s beat the weather, and Salisbury
Romsey won a hard fought encounter in what at times were almost unplayable conditions due to the driving rain, but were pleased to keep a clean sheet and do the double over local rivals.
Salisbury looked sharper in the opening minutes, but solid centre defence play by Ben Parker and James Tower saw Salisbury get only one shot away, and that was comfortably saved by Ollie O’Hara in goal.
Full backs Simeon Field and Andy Moger then started to create space and push forward, playing in Josh Harwood to link with Stan Cazaly down the right, he got a couple of crosses in to the circle that were cleared to safety.
Romsey took the lead when Colin Harwood played a deep ball in to the circle for Phil Orak to control and pass to Bryn Wathen to shoot past the keeper.
With torrential rain at half time, a drenched Romsey pushed for a second goal in the second period. With Moger on the left combining with Pete O’Hara, who pulled his defender to the corner to make space inside, Orak and Wathen combined to win a penalty corner. Parker played the ball out to Harwood who watched for the out rushing defenders before calmly playing the ball left to Man of the Match Wathen who stroked the ball in for 2 0.
Romsey needed to call on Ollie O’Hara again to cover his near post, as Salisbury pushed for a goal, and after winning a couple of penalty corners the defence stood strong.
A third goal for Romsey looked likely as Steve White now playing upfront made some good inroads, and won another penalty corner. This time Josh Harwood’s shot was cleared off the line as the final whistle blew.
Romsey out gunned by league leaders!
Romsey U16 girls played league leaders Petersfield on Sunday 20th of January on a beautiful sunny morning at HCS.
Push back was 11.30am and Romsey were determined not to fall to a 7-0 defeat against Petersfield as they did on the first game of the season.
Petersfield are a strong team and started so. Romsey were forced into some early defensive work and Alex O and Molly O had to be sharp to deny Petersfield.
The Romsey midfield were struggling to find space despite good work down the Left from JessG and Emily J
Midway through the half Petersfield pressure paid of and they broke quickly and scored. 1-0!
Shortly after that they were pressing again and despite dogged defending from Antonia L and Katie S they found a way through to make it 2-0.
Romsey were digging deep now and the midfield with Clara H and Liz F started to put some passes together, one found its way to Anna R who turned smartly and fed a lovely through ball to Grace M who had made a lovely run and found herself one on one with the keeper , she made a great angle for the shot which beat the keeper but agonisingly hit the post.
Halftime came and the Romsey were determined to make a match of it in the second half.
They started brightly with Tessa D making a couple of great runs which produced shots and two good saves from the Petersfield keeper.
Romsey were knocking at the door and before long after another run from Tessa D , Grace M came in at the back post and calmly slotted the ball home 2-1!
The game had now reached a critical spell and Petersfield upped the level again putting huge pressure on the Romsey defence , they had a succession of short corners which produced great blocks from Molly O and Alex O. Jess W had dropped back to help the defence and produced two vital clearances.
Daisy R in goal also was forced into making a fantastic double save but eventually the Petersfield pressure told and they broke through 3-1!
Romsey heads did not go down , although Petersfield came again and Daisy R was called into action time after time and with 10 mins to go Petersfield struck again putting the match beyond Romsey.
Final score Romsey 1-4 Petersfield
A Gritty Romsey performance , but the league leaders prevailed.
Player of the match Alex O – Great defending
M4s battle past Poole
Romsey battled to inflict a similar scoreline to the away fixture in a great advert for lower league hockey between two sides who balanced youth and experience.
It was Poole who started the brighter, putting their better prepared warm up routine to the test they played the ball down their right, taking out Pete O’Hara and Andy Moger, then played the ball past Duncan Sanders and Dave Loescher beautifully to leave their young forward to reverse strike the ball just inside the post past Ollie O’Hara in goal.
Simeon Field roused Romsey, by challenging the centre midfielders to get a grip on the game, and Morgan Robertson rose to the task, taking a lead role in winning the ball and distributing it left and right. Romsey made some half chances for Dan Blackman and Phil Orak up front, but when they got the ball to Stan Cazaly on the right, Romsey started to open up the Poole defence.
Romsey equalised when Cazaly played the ball across to Steve White, who appeared to have under hit his reverse stick shot but it squeezed in under the keeper.
Then Dave Loescher brought the ball out of defence, over the half way line and then up to the Poole circle. He won a penalty corner and stayed up to support the move. Colin Harwood’s push out to Morgan Robertson resulted in the ball not being cleared, and Dan Blackman stretched to play the ball to Man of the Match Cazaly to fire in from a tight angle to give Romsey a 2-1 HT lead.
In the second half Romsey pushed forward, and another penalty corner shot from Robertson was not cleared, Romsey had several chances to get the ball over the line, eventually Harwood making it 3-1.
Harwood then played a perfectly weighted ball to Cazaly on the half way line, and the right sided player ran with the ball to the top of the circle before shooting and seeing the keeper only able to deflect it inside the post for 4-1.
With Duncan Sanders going off injured, Robertson dropped to centre back, and Blackman stepped up to cap a fine game on his return by playing centre midfield. This allowed Harwood to play higher up the pitch, and a good move saw Steve White make it 5-1 with a shot on the turn.
Poole scored a consolation second late on to mirror the scoreline from the away fixture, but Romsey were worthy winners, and the game allowed some of the players returning from injury and those playing only their first ever games to gain some confidence and pitch time.
U10s have fun in the sun in Bournemouth
The weather was cold but bright for New Forest’s tournament at Bournemouth Sports Centre on 20th January 2019.
In the first of their five matches, Romsey had Trojans pinned back deep in their own half for most of the match. Against the run of play, however, Trojans managed to go 1 ahead with a lucky goal. Fortunately, in the last few minutes of the match, Grace was set up with a lovely through ball and calmly finished in the left corner. The match ended 1-1 and Romsey were very unlucky not to win.
If Romsey enjoyed the better of their first match, they completely dominated the second. Clara put in a very solid shift by snuffing out any Salisbury attacks and Charlie defended high up the pitch. The ball was rarely out of the Salisbury half and towards the end, the Salisbury goalkeeper was under siege. Although Camilla and Grace came close, Romsey were unable to convert their territory into goals and the match finished 0-0.
Romsey were able to maintain their dominance in this match. Freddie went on some dazzling runs through the middle and Maya tidied up well at the back. Grace enjoyed the space up front and had soon poached a hat-trick. Charlie then made it 4 with an outstanding solo run topped off with a fine finish. Salisbury managed to pull back a consolation goal at the end and the match finished 4-1 to Romsey.
Bournemouth were a very good team, with 3 big strong boys in midfield. Romsey toiled hard and there was some heroic defending by both Annas, Dylan, Maya and Clara. However Romsey found it very hard to keep possession against such strong opposition and the match finished 3-0 to Bournemouth.
Romsey looked very comfortable at first and went 1-0 up with a goal from Grace. Unfortunately Winchester fought back and went level with a lucky goal following some confusion in the Romsey goalmouth. Romsey then poured players forward but then found themselves outnumbered at the back. Winchester capitalised on this and snatched the winner. The match ended 2-1.
Overall the team looked comfortable in all but one of their matches and all players deserve a lot of credit for their skill and their attitudes. Next up is the Salisbury tournament in February.
U8s enjoy a glorious day in Bournemouth
Romsey fielded a very young squad at the mini festival in Bournemouth this morning. With an average age of 6 the squad would need to rely on talent rather than size and experience to succeed.
First up were the hosts Bournemouth. Romsey were slow out of the blocks and despite some hard work lost 2-0.
Winchester were next and Romsey fought hard to secure a tight 1-0 victory with Zak scoring the first of the 7 goals he scored across the morning.
By the third game Romsey had found their feet and Andover B were in their sights. Hard work in midfield from Cherry ensured the opposition could never settle and Romsey ran out 2-0 winners.
Andover A were a much tougher proposition but Romsey were determined and eventually Noah popped up at the back post to slot home the winner.
After a welcome refuel break Romsey’s young tyros returned to the field full of energy. Olivia was now full of energy and she created opportunities for her team mates. Henry scored the fourth goal to seal a dominate win against Winchester.
Grace was excellent all day and her tenacity in tackling meant that Romsey were regularly turning the ball over. The last game saw the team really hit too form and won 4-0 against their local rivals. Hamish showing particular skill scoring his goal after a run which included 3D skills.
Despite their success Romsey played with great team spirit and sportsmanship. Debutant Elijah, 3 1/2, was included in everything, definitely one to watch for the future!
M4s- All hands to the pumps v Trojans!
The team were struggling for numbers as at least 6 regular players were playing up , it was all hands to the pump with every resource drained to get a team out.
DOD – Harwood Senior, Drove of without B wathen at the end of the match, almost got home! but had to come back….