Romsey 4th XI inflicted a first defeat of the season against high flying, and potential Division 9 South winners the Isle of Wight, on a scorching hot February day.
The IOW had won 6-2 in the game on the Island, where Romsey at 1-2 down had failed to take a number of penalty corner chances, it felt like roles were revered for this match as Romsey held on to secure the three points.
Romsey had three players making their 4th XI debuts, Dave Proctor, playing his first match for the club, along with the young Freddie OH who was playing with his brother and father, and Jon Marsh returning to playing following a serious back injury trying out for a time each half.
Romsey thought they would be struggling to field 11 players, but with Dave Miles able to stand at the back Romsey were able to compete with the Islanders. Romsey were on the back foot at the start, with Marsh at the back with the strong James Tower for company and Ben Parker at left back, fresh from helping out the 2s over the past couple of weeks, and Simeon Field at right back. Every time IOW got in to a scoring position Romsey got the vital touch to clear, Field and Tower ensuring Ollie OH in goal was well protected, and the young keeper making two fine blocks to keep the score level.
With the introduction of Miles, the experienced defender appeared to be foul tackled, but in fact a good take from the IOW forward left Romsey ball watching, and he played the ball to the IOW centre forward to calmly put IOW 1-0 up.
Romsey started to play some better hockey Jim East commanding the centre, and finding outlets to Dan Blackman on the right. Blackman combined with Colin Harwood to play in Freddie OH but the final pass just went off the pitch.
East then played a sideline ball to Freddie who touched it on to Dave Proctor to pass the ball in to the goal at the near post for a Romsey equalizer, and then soon after, Ben Parker played Pete O’Hara in down the left, he got himself around the ball and played it on to an IOW foot just outside the circle. Harwood played the free hit back to Dave Miles at the 23 yard line, he drove in and saw his first shot blocked but followed up the rebound to give Romsey a 2-1 HT lead.
In the second half with Proctor going off to protect his knee injury, Romsey had to soak up wave after wave of IOW pressure. Phil Orak came back to assist at left half, and the midfield had to sit deep, allowing the marauding Tower to have the run from defence to attack.
As IOW one penalty corner after penalty corner it looked like it was only a matter of time before they made it 2-2, but with Tower deflecting a shot over the bar, and Man of the Match Field performing a reverse stick aerial stop, it was left to Ollie OH in goal to save the final penalty corner shot of the match, much to the hugging delight of father Pete, for Romsey to run out 2-1 victors.
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