In the U10s section, Romsey A played 6 matches and came away with 1 win, 4 draws and only 1 defeat. Bournemouth A, Andover A, New Forest A and Southampton A were all held to 0-0 draws. Brilliant defending was needed throughout from Clara, Jake and Maya to repel frequent attacks. Their only defeat came against Salisbury A, when the team were caught out by a fast breakaway in the first minute of the game. Wide players Otto and Sophie ran tirelessly throughout to relieve the pressure on the defence but they couldn’t find an equaliser and lost 1-0. The highlight of the morning was the well-deserved win against a strong Winchester A team. Some excellent passing in midfield between Freddie and Ben set Dylan up to shoot from the top of the D. His strike hit the post, but fortunately bounced back out and Jake reacted brilliantly to smash the ball home.
Romsey B were very strong during the whole tournament, winning four and drawing two matches. The win against Trojans B was a highlight. After enduring five minutes of pressure in front of the Romsey goal, Charlie broke free and sprinted towards an open Trojans goal, banging the ball straight in to end the match 1-0. Against Southampton, Joe showed great goalie traits, Benji, Maggie and Anna S were solid in midfield and Oscar managed to score a goal in the last minute, making it a 1-1 draw. Elsie shone in the match against Bournemouth, picking up the ball on the half way line and scoring on her second attempt at goal. Caitlin was then cool under pressure scoring Romsey’s second goal of the match to end 2-0 to Romsey. In the final match of the tournament, Charlie and Grace linked up to score the only goal of the match and another win for Romsey. The whole squad can be proud of their solid performance and their excellent attitude throughout the tournament. Well done everyone!
U16 Girls Give NonEarly Gifts To The Forest !
New Forest made a strong start and pushed Romsey back to the edge of their D and they had to sustain a number of attacks in the first 10 minutes. The defence were very strong with super interceptions and tackling from Alex O , Antonia L and Ellie E.
Romsey started to apply some pressure themselves and wingers Jess G and Grace M made some great runs to get Romsey up the pitch. Romsey forced two short corners in quick succession and Liz F forced a good save from the Forest keeper.
New Forest regained their composure and came again with some good passing moves up the pitch and on one attack broke into the D with only the Romsey keeper to beat, Daisy R was off her line in a flash and made a fantastic diving smother save to deny the Forest forward.U8s are awesome again!
Romsey hosted u8 teams from across the county this morning. Everyone enjoyed the sunny weather, scrummy cakes, and some cracking hockey.
Romsey’s squad of 8 was made up of three 7 and 5 six year olds. They all played awesomely!
First up were Trojans B and Zach was quickest off the mark. He bagged a hat trick before Trojans blinked and Romsey ran out easy winners.
Trojans A were a much tougher prospect and proved too strong for the young Romsey team. They battled hard though, Grace was outstanding and very brave in the tackle.
Romsey recovered from their disappointment and battled out a brave draw against Salisbury. Olivia and Emma toughing it out, snuffing the oppositions attacks out.
Our young team returned to winning ways against Southampton. Brilliant passing saw the ball move from left back by Hamish to Zach in midfield up to Henry who ran in Romsey’s first. Zach doubled the lead with another string break set up by Cherry’s strong midfield effort.
New Forest were very strong and won 4 – 0 against a tiring Romsey team. They refuelled though and came out fighting against Southampton B. Romsey won 1-0 courtesy of Hamish breaking from midfield showing remarkable control and some 3D skills before crossing to Noah who knocked the ball in at the back post.
The last game of the morning was against Andover and both teams brought out their A game. They competed hard and drew 0-0 in the end, finishing with a loud round of 3 cheers.
A great morning and some tremendous hockey played by all.
U16 Boys Scrape past Southampton
Romsey Under 16 Boys secured an important win today at home to Southampton by 4 goals to 3. The match ebbed and flowed but Romsey kept up the pressure and 2 goals from Rufus Taylor and 2 from Noah Cooper ensured victory for Romsey. This takes Romsey to second in the table just behind Winchester.
Romsey Ladies 1s vs Southampton 2s
Romsey 1s made it 8 wins from 10 matches with a hard fought win over Southampton 2s. They took the lead early in the first half as Bethan Knight fired a searching pass to find Kate Olingschlaeger in the circle. Her cross found Erica Jenner whose shot on goal was helped over the line by Emma Beeching.
Having held this lead over the half time break, Romsey piled on the pressure in the second half with the majority of the game being played in Southampton’s half. An Abby James run from midfield made the second goal when her forward pass found Kate in front of the keeper, and she found the net with a clever deflection on her reverse stick.
The last quarter of an hour saw Romsey giving away too much possession, allowing Southampton to open their scoring from a well worked short corner.
For Romsey, it wasn’t always pretty, but they’ll take another 3 points, and have climbed to joint second in the league.
Next week’s match will be nail biter, playing New Forest who share their second place.
M2s run out of puff v Trojans
Romsey ran out of puff against a strong Trojans squad who used their subs effectively in the second period while Romsey played with only 10.
An even first half saw both sides miss chances, with Alexis and Ben Harris both making in roads in to the Trojans circle supported by Matt Loveday on the left and Stan Cazaly making his 2s debut on the right.
Trojans took the lead with a quick break with Romsey in their final quarter. Nigel King having no chance from the reverse hit shot with spare forwards around.
A tactical switch to move Josh Harwood to centre back stopped Trojans cutting through the Romsey defence and Jamie Sanderson provided the outlet on the left for Romsey to clear up.
The second half started strongly for Romsey with Tom Ponsford and Tom Wigley playing some neat one twos around the Trojans defence but couldn’t make a break through.
Another break saw Trojans over load their rightside and then play the ball across to a spare man at the back post for 2 0 to the visitors.
Romsey didn’t lay down and despite now being down to ten players due to One player having another engagement they pulled a goal back when Stan Cazaly was at the back post to poke in from close range.
Then Alexis H and Tom W combined for a Trojans player to divert the ball to Ben H on the goal line to get a touch for 2 2.
Romsey with a player less were then cut open, and as Trojans got past Colin Harwood, Nigel King pulled off a fine save only for the ball to drop agonisingly away from Josh H stick and close to a Trojan one for 3 2.
With Romsey pushing forward Trojans grabbed another, although a foot may have been involved in the pass, for 4 2, and a fifth was ruled out when Trojans acknowledged an offence.
A strong performance from the team in the next two matches can see Romsey gain some momentum for 2019.
M4s bring out the old guns and new!
Romsey Men’s 4s were playing away at Hamble with a weakened team as several key players were playing further up the club.
They had manged to draft in debutante Pete O’Hara and club stalwart Jim East to help shore up the midfield.
Push back was at 12.00 with rainy and windy conditions to deal with.
Hamble started brightly and you could see Romsey were trying to settle in to a new formation and new personnel.
They were just starting to settle but Hamble broke smartly and finished a nice move to take the lead. 1-0
This spurred Romsey on and now they started to pass and find their men and both wingers Andy Moger and Matt D were starting to cause problems in the opposition half.
Half chances were starting to fall to Sean Rawles and Carl Hendy up front who were working hard to find space in a well drilled Hamble defence.
It was not long before Romseys passing found its mark and a beautiful passing move starting from Will P in defence all the way down the field before being slid across the D for Matt D to finish accurately. 1-1!
Romsey were now in control and soon picked a second goal with a smart finish from Bryn W arriving late in the D to smash the ball past the defender on the line who could nothing to stop it. 2-1!
Half time was approaching and a loose ball in midfield saw Hamble break through and punish Romsey against the run of play 2-2!
The second half started and both teams were on the attack determined to get something from the match. The Romsey defence was under a lot of pressure and were forced into some great defending from Duncan Sanders , Rob Cav and Pete O’Hara to keep Hamble at bay. The midfield were also having to word hard with Barry H linking well with Matt D trying to get Romsey up the field.
A Romsey defender looked to slide a quick ball infield but was read well by Hamble and intercepted , the attacker was through into the D , goal keeper Ollie O’H was smart of his line to narrow the angle but the attacker finished well low and hard into the corner. 3-2!
Romsey heads did not go down and now chased the game with Will P making a succession of great runs with the ball from one end of the pitch to the other no one could get near him . This forced two short corners and put Romsey on the front foot again.
Jim East picked the ball up in midfield a slid a ball into Carl Hendy who expertly with his back to goal controlled and shot in one motion into the left hand corner giving the keeper no chance. 3-3!
The final whistle went 5 minutes later to finish a second half that was end to end.
Romsey deserved the point and the whole team had given 100% to the end.
Player of the match – Will P , great energy and super second half , well done.
Fabulous fours – strike again
Match Report 1st December 2018
The ladies’ fourth team were on sparkling form again this week against Fleet & Ewshot, and are celebrating an unprecedented (for them!) unbeaten streak. The team manager Hilary Andrews was delighted with the away match outcome of 2 – 2.
The hosts started off strong with a fast and furiousattack, conceding an early corner heroically saved by the artful goalie Derien Pugh. The hosts quickly followed through with a 2nd strong counter attack off a long corner scoring the first goal. The fours undeterred fought back with sweeping attack up the wing by Parminder Mew and Angela Procter. Jo Field passed a beautiful ball to Tracey Mason who was in position to tap the ball into the goal.
Fleet & Ewshot took advantage of spritely forwards to quickly follow up with a 2nd goal. Romsey’s fighting spirit quickly drew the teams even with Cara Cox driving the ball up the pitch to the Clare’s – Cooper & Herbert, with Claudia French, Mandy Berendsen and Tracey Mason making use of the central channel to set Hilary Andrews up to smash the ball into the back of the net for the 2nd goal.
The 2nd half of the game mirrored the first half with the Marino’s and Claire Wise chasing down the attacking side providing a strong defence. The well match teams spent equal amounts of times in each others D’s, which finished at full time on 2:2 draw. Both teams thoroughly enjoyed the game, posing for a combined match photo at the end. Star player was Claire Wise, for achieving so many clearances from the D without giving away short corners. As always the Fabulous Fours are grateful to their Fabulous Manager and Coaching Staff for their continued support and direction, allowing this fabulously determined team to continue to improve week on week.
U16Bs top the table toppers
U16 Boys pull into second place in league after beating 1st place City of Portsmouth 4-3 in best performance of season… so far!
A sluggish start, which nearly gave Portsmouth an early goal, belied the remaining 68 minutes of the match as the U16’s showed depth, speed and strength across the full team. The match saw great pressure from both sides as the play moved quickly from one end to the other, with fast breaks into the D, a total of 11 penalty corners and a score sheet which Romsey kept managing to just stay ahead of Portsmouth on.
Romsey goals from Rufus (2’), Morgan (penalty corner, 6’), Morgan (drag flick, 22’) and Noah (penalty flick, 53’) and 5 saves of direct goal shots by Rob (GK) kept the pressure on Portsmouth. The whole team gave it their all with Ben Sluman keeping pressure up front and Noah, James and Ben leading a strong mid-field in both defence and offence.
The last Portsmouth goal in the 67th minute looked like they may have the momentum to manage an equaliser in the dying minutes, but Romsey stayed strong till the end. With one point between each of the top 3 teams in the league, a strong match against 3rd placed Southampton next weekend will set us up well for another shot at the title!
U16 Girls Cup Heartache
Romsey U16 Girls faced a stern Challenge on Remembrance Sunday against a very strong Salisbury side.
The match started at 2.15pm prompt after a well observed minutes silence.
Romsey started briskly and were quick into the tackle with Clare H winning the ball in midfield and working the ball to Grace M who was working hard to advance the play down the right.
Salisbury were strong defensively and repelled the attack and started to apply pressure immediately, their passing was crisp and expansive and Romsey had to be on their mettle to contain them with excellent defending from Antonia L and Ellie E in the full back positions.
Romsey then had a break with Tessa D making a great run down the wing forcing the Salisbury defence and keeper into work.
Salisbury now found themselves under pressure and the Romsey midfield were working hard with Jess G; pushing the ball up to Jess W who was making a great run into space. Romsey forced a defensive error from Salisbury and Anna R stole in to finish smartly in the corner 1:0 Romsey!
This spurred Salisbury on and they really got the passing and moving together and Romsey were under real pressure and faced a succession of short corners which saw fantastic and brave defending from Mollie O and Katie S.
There was five minutes to half time and Salisbury just kept coming Daisy R was making save after save but finally Romsey were breached and Salisbury scored 1:1.
The second half started and Romsey were putting some good passes together and Liz F was trying hard to get Romsey up the pitch. Salisbury picked up from where they left off and it was not long before they scored a fine team worked goal. To make matters worse they then got a quick third goal and were really in the ascendancy.
Romsey did not give up and all the players were working really hard to stem the flow Emily J worked back and made a great interception, Daisy R came out of goal to make a wonderful smothering save taking the ball and the attacking player, both showing 100% commitment.
Alas Romsey could not stop Salisbury scoring 3 more goals to make the final score 6:1, however Romsey worked very hard and defended extremely well to keep the scoreline respectable.
Well played Salisbury!
Joint players of the match:
Daisy R fantastic display in goal and Liz F who worked very hard in midfield.