Romsey travelled to the Isle of Wight with just the eleven players, hoping for no injuries without any subs, and competed in a hard fought match which the scoreline didn’t reflect.
IOW deservedly took a 2-0 lead, despite some fine saves from Ollie O’Hara in goal, Romsye changed tactics, and this allowed Josh Harwood to link better with Sean Rawles and bring in Matt Duke and Stan Cazaly.
Romsey won a penalty corner before half time and as Rawles played the ball to Colin Harwodd, he slipped it right for Josh Harwood to move forward and score for a 2-1 HT scoreline.
In the opening 20 minutes of the second half Romsey were on top, Man of the match Matt Duke, had two penalty corner shots cleared off the line, Barry Hatch and Sean Rawles both went close, and James Tower, Will Payne and Stan Cazaly all found themselves in the IOW circle.
Romsey couldn’t convert a string of penalty corners themselves, and then found themselves 3-1 down with 13 minutes to go, when IOW converted their first penalty corner of the half.
This led to Romsey leaving Lukasz Suleja and Andy Moger exposed and alone at the back, as the team pushed up, and Romsey conceded three quick goals to be 6-1 down.
Matt Duke scored from a penalty corner to bring the scoreline closer to reality, for 6-2 which was harsh on Romsey.
