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
