Wimborne 5 vs. Romsey 4 Ladies – Saturday 3.10.20
A blessing of unicorns bestowed a rainbow on Romsey Ladies IV team, which Captain Coops used today to pause the rain during the first league match of the new season. Coops selected a strong side with Outstanding O’hara in goal; the Brilliant Berendsen’ s representing youth and maturity, Wiley Wisey, Feisty Field, Fabulous French and Judicious Jones across the back line. Heroic Hunter, Maverick Macintosh, PersistentProcter as forwards, supported by Fearsome Franklin, LivelyLegg, Lippy Lu and Captain Coops. With social distance rules abided by – the game got underway…..
Romsey looked in fine form; with players in peak condition, ready to take on a friendly Wimborne side. The game got off to a quick start with Hunter taking an early advantage running into space ably supported by Lively Legg and a Brilliant junior Berendsen. Romsey drove the ball towards Wimborne’s goal looking dangerous, with a superb pass out to Procter who was waiting on the wing. Procter switched the ball to Hunter who had a shot on goal, narrowly missing scoring. Procter found herself in the right place on a number of occasions, but a gust of wind took the ball past the goal – so close.
Wimborne responded with a ball from the 16, a big hitter taking advantage of a hard ball down the centre of the pitch. As if by magic, Fearsome Franklin appeared from nowhere snatching the ball from Wimborne; deftly passing it to a waiting Coops, who drove the ball up the pitch passing to junior Berendsen who switched it to Lively Legg and back. Berendsen tapped the ball past a number of waiting Wimbornedefenders driving forward into the D, where Maverick Mac was waiting on post, narrowly missing a goal conversion.
Wimborne rose to match Romsey’s spirit with some lovely play. Franklin, Field and Jones interrupted them on many occasions snatching the ball back, with Wisey and Berendsen senior making a formidable partnership. French and Field disrupted Wimborne’s efforts to score a goal, with Outstanding O’Hara making a number of epic saves. Wimborne’s persistence paid off and they managed to score two goals in quick succession. However, none were conceded from a short corner. Feisty Field was a demon in defense and elevating her prowess to that of a legendary hard hitter. French and Jones were persistent defenders, driving Wimborne out of the D effectively clearing the ball.
At half time the score was 2:0 Romsey Ladies IV were unbroken and determined to score a goal. Heroic Hunter took the opportunity, set up by Berendsen and Procter; the ball flew in the air before a resounding thud as it hit the back board. Wimborne replied with two more goals, but not without a fight – with Captain Coops, Legg and Franklin stealing the ballback. Maverick Mac proved herself to be useful on the wing driving the ball up the line making it difficult for the opposition to intercept.
Despite the loss, the 4s were jubilant; they demonstrated discipline – sticking to their positions, man marking, sticks down and passing into space. Coach Edwards would be proud of how far they had come. As Walt Disney said “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them” – in our hearts we were winners today and next week this may also be reflected on the score board. Well done Ladies IV’s great to be back – with such a rocking and Fantastic Fab Four’s team.
2019/20 Junior Awards
Junior training has started again this week and so we have taken the opportunity to present the awards for U10, U12, U14 and U16 Girls and Boys. Awards are give to the Player of the Season and to the Most Improved Player in each age group.
M1s make a winning start to their campaign
The men’s 1s travelled to local rivals Trojans for their first friendly in post lock down conditions.
Trojans 2s, coached by Romsey legend Dave Miles, play in the division above Romsey and would prove to be worthy opposition.
Romsey started the match slowly, much to new coach, Lewis Birch’s frustration and they quickly fell behind to a miss hit PC.
The shock of falling behind spurred them on though and Romsey’s intensive attacking style started to make an impact.
The first goal came from a driving run by Morgan Robertson down the left wing and along the baseline. He slipped the ball to the near post where Martin Gough opened his account with a simple tap in.
The second was a result of some excellent build up play finished off by Matt Ireland from close range.
Young tyro Luke Walter almost made it 3 but soon after Romsey lost the ball in midfield and Trojans broke quickly. Their inside forward hit a ‘Bobby Dazzler’ of a shot just under the cross bar to make it 2-2.
Romsey found them selves under severe pressure for the last 5 minutes but a good tackle at the top of the D saw the ball released to skipper Tom Wigley high in the opposition half.
Wiggles didn’t everything but get a shot away, turning the Trojans GK inside out. It took the calm head of Matt Ireland though to make it a brace and secure a 3-2 win for Romsey.
Men’s 4s Toilet Roll Challenge
Not to be outdone the Men’s 4s have completed their own Toilet Roll Challenge!
Fab 4s keep to the beat with their Loo Roll Challenge!
The Fab Ladies 4s have used the force to prove that no one is going to stop them having a good time! #StayHome #ProtecttheNHS #SaveLives
RHC Ladies 1s – Raising the bar with a multi-tasking Toilet Roll Challenge!
RHC Men’s 1s – Toilet Roll Challenge – Enjoy and have a Happy, Safe Easter
Under 8s make the most of the opportunity to play
Under 8s Trojans Tournament – Sunday 14th March
What a strange second half to the season its been. Two tournaments cancelled due to the weather, the final one cancelled due to Covid-19 and a last minute relocation from Trojans to Southampton for the only one that did go-ahead. But at least they got to play and show what they had learnt since the previous one in early December. The squad all showed vast improvements and even writing this 2 weeks late, there are many moments that stick in the memory.
We started strongly against Winchester 2 with nearly all the play near their goal. This domination led us all to believe that we’d score lots of goals, but Winchester were excellent in front of their own goal and kept many shots out. Hamish should have scored, but chose to try a reverse stick shot which was saved before finally Noah broke the deadlock with some excellent footwork giving him the chance to finish strongly. Winchester were improving all the time and started to get Laurence in defence involved. He was strong in the tackle and then looked up before passing to his teammates, providing opportunities for Jake and Gulliver to attack. There was some confusion at the final whistle as Winchester scored a goal, but it was after the hooter had gone. Perhaps a lucky 1-0 win in a game that we could have done better.
The next game was against Bournemouth 1. Hamish learnt from his mistakes in the first game and scored a hat-trick to give the team a big 3-0 win. He received some great passes from his teammates to enable him to show his full range of skills to wriggle through the opposition. It was then Noah’s turn to score his usual hat-trick in the next game against Salisbury. On one occasion his turn, acceleration and skills to get past the opposition was amazing to see.
The girls decided to get in on the goal-scoring action against New Forest 2, having been passing machines in the first 3 games. Cherry, who had been restricted to defence, stepped into midfield. With the ball seemingly glued to the end of her stick, she showed great skill to run past 3 defenders before tapping in the goal with her reverse stick – 1-0. Grace then showed off her improved skills and footwork to go past their defence to score our second goal and make the final score 2-0.
We then played Trojans 1 who relied on one individual to score 3 goals, as we were not sharp enough to realise that he was going to run everything himself and we seemed slightly shocked. However we got better during the game and had a few attacks of our own. One of these resulted in Hamish scoring a good goal from the far right of the pitch. Jake, in particular, was making stronger tackles to help our cause whilst Laurence engaged in a fully committed tussle against their best player. He tackled strongly and stopped a further goal by chasing back hard to the goal-line which ended up with both players on the floor. The match ended 1-3 to Trojans.
What turned into our final match of the season was against Andover 2. They have proved to be a tough team to play against, particularly after Trojans. This was a situation repeated from the Romsey tournament, pre-Christmas. They tackled strongly and passed quickly which put our defence under pressure. Many players made great efforts in running back to make tackles which was great to see in the 6th game. Olivia showed big improvements in her tackling and passing. And it was one of these passes to Noah that gave him the opportunity to score our only goal of the game. Although Olivia came close to scoring too. Unfortunately they scored 3, so we lost 1-3.
As a coach, it was a great pleasure to see the improvements that all players have made during the season, but frustrating that we lost 3 of the tournaments which stopped them making more progress. In addition to the moments above, Gulliver was much more involved during his games which was great to see. Nearly all these players will be with the Under 10s next season so we wish them well and look forward to seeing their progress. The future of the U8s is youth – Elijah and Rory both made brief cameos throughout this tournament and will get to play a lot more next year.
Fab Ladies four’s – dream of victory from the comfort of their homes
After a season of elusive wins the Fab Four’s came together for their final game from the comfort of their own homes…… this is the story of the game that changed it all!
The dream team for the final match of the season included; Captain Coops, Ferocious Farquarhson, Wiley Widdowson, Fantastic French (S/J), Brilliant Berendsen’s (S/J), Feisty Field, Outstanding O’Hara, Lippy Lu, Marvellous Marino (J), Maverick Manners, Awesome Andrews, Practical Procter’s (J/S), Rapid Ryan, Adams Family, Judicious Jones, Fast Frost, Reliable Roberts and Bold Budge. All supported with surprise appearances from the Fantastic Free’s including Magic Mason, Clever Cox, Wiley Wisey, Heroic Herbie, Wonderful Woods, Crafty Crate and Perfect Pugh.
Pre-match team was fierce and talk focused on hard, fast passes and man marking (like superglue) and achieving those unicorn moments, goal scoring. The wine and cider (and soft drinks for the juniors) flowed freely as the team got ready to take on top of the league Poole. Daunted by their last encounter with the fearsome Fours, Poole sneaked in a couple of top flight players. With pre-match drinks downed the Fours were ready to take on anything…… a potential strategy for next season’s games as goal scoring tactic!
With ends chosen and Fours on pitch the game got off to a flying start. Captain Coops played three forwards (Ferocious Farquarhson, Wiley Widdowson and Fantastic French (S), a mixed attack/defensive midfield (Brilliant Berendsen’s (S/J), Feisty Field, Captain Coops and Judicious Jones) and three defensive stalwarts (Outstanding O’Hara, Lippy Lu and Fantastic French (J)). Poole won the toss and elected to start – sending the ball deep into their defence. From no-where Outstanding O’Hara flew up the pitch stealing the ball in a daring raid and with outrageous style scored the first of 10 goals. O’Hara was immediately swamped by jubilant team mates, performing football stylie tops over heads, with not a roll in site those extra fitness sessions had clearly paid off.
Poole were visibly unnerved their prowess rocked by a previously only beaten team. Reset and ready to go they launched the ball with a fearsome slap only to be intercepted by the flight footed Field, who tapped it onto Widdowson, sending it wide to French who ran onto the ball, deftly picking it up passing it onto Manners and a waiting Proctor – patiently goal hanging. Within minutes the 2nd goal was in the bag. The wine was clearly helping!
In need of a break, the side quickly rotated to allow for Rapid Ryan, Adams Family, Fast Frost, Bold Budge, Magic Mason, Clever Cox, Wiley Wisey, Heroic Herbie, Wonderful Woods, Crafty Crate and Perfect Pugh – giving Poole time to recover their composure. Poole suddenly started to look dangerous with fast play outstripping the Romsey side. They had a clever dummy pass allowing them to get into the D and finish with a resounding goal – slipping past the normally Perfect Pugh. Unfazed Romsey recovered composure and within minutes had scored another goal – arising from a brilliant partnership of Herbie, Mason,
Adams and Frost. Pugh got an opportunity to show her brilliance when a dispute provided Poole a penalty flick. Pugh stood large and looked dangerous – the Poole player tried hard, but lost to this golden glove and athletic antics from the best goalie in town.
In need of a top up…the team rotated again….bringing Ferocious Farquarhson, Wiley Widdowson, Practical Proctors, Brilliant Berendsen’s (S/J), Captain Coops, Judicious Jones, Lippy Lu, French (J) and Marvellous Marino (J) and Awesome Andrews. Prior to the Poole match Marvellous Marino’s new stick has been causing some jip with unexpected aerials being blown up. Added to which Lippy Lu was never quite 5m away from the ball! Lessons learnt – the duo had an unexpected success, with an intercept by Lippy Lu – a cheeky back ball to Marvellous Marino who with unexpected grace and style launched an aerial so far down the pitch than Berendsen (S) was able to bat it down and tap it onwards for Berendsen Junior to receive, who deftly flicked it to Farquarhson and a waiting Widdowson – who somehow managed to smash it into the goal whilst pivoting from running backwards. Coach Edwards would have been beyond proud.
All of a sudden Poole found some inner strength and dug deep to return with fire, barrelling down towards a waiting Andrews, who suddenly was alone defending the D. Undeterred, with pre-match courage keeping her company – she fought off the Poole attack with outstanding ferocity and skill.
From that point on Poole were broken and the Fab Four’s went onto score a further 6 goals…..a herd of unicorns could be seen trotting by as the final whistle blew. Celebrations abounded and match teas were a deserved carbohydrate fest of hot chips and luscious sandwiches. With new assertion the Fab Four’s realised their strength was each other and that the fun awaited them in next season games – and pre-match drinks may be the way to go!