for the whole family
Almost 50 Santa’s, Reindeer, Snowmen and Elves turned out in the monsoon this evening for some Christmas Fun and Shenanigans!
There was some great hockey played in Seasonal Spirits. The overall winners were fiercely debated but it was felt that Father Christmas probably won!
Bournemouth 6 Romsey 5
Bournemouth dominate the early exchanges but Romsey stood strong on the flanks. Freddie and Daniel won a series of tackles, whilst down the middle Owen and Ellison defence seemed unbeatable. Gradually Bournemouth found space in the D but Jo was in outstanding form saving three efforts in quick succession.
Slowly Romsey grew into the game breaking frequently through midfield. The possession was soon rewarded. A short corner was received by Will and he cleverly found Luke to the left of the goal who struck first time into the bottom corner. The next corner was played accurately by Jack S to Luke who touched into the D and fired home. Bournemouth were dangerous on the counter attack and scored from a clinical counter attack. Jack S, Lorne and Jack M all went close before another rapid counter attack led to a Bournemouth fourth.
Romsey were still pressing with Ollie creating half chances for Jack M and Luke before Lorne dribbled through midfield and played in Ollie who raced into the D before shooting in the right corner.
The second half saw an even more determined Romsey camped in the Bournemouth half. Romsey were unlucky in the D when shots from Luke, Ollie, Jack M and Will were blocked on the line. Within a few minutes the attempts were repeated but Bournemouth managed to deflect for a corner.
The corner fell to Freddie who passed to Thomas who made no mistake and scored from 4 metres. Unfortunately, two attacks and short corners from Bournemouth and it was 6-4. Romsey continued to press the defence and were able to push into midfield surrounding the D. Shots continued to be fired in but were blocked. Jack M received an excellent through ball from Owen, he rounded the keeper only to see his shot cleared off the line. At last Lorne was rewarded dribbling into the D and firing an unstoppable shot left of the keeper.
Romsey were now scenting the equaliser. Ollie, Luke, Will and Jack M saw shots blocked as pressure grew and with the last struck of the ball, Jack S final effort deflected wide.
An outstanding display against the top of the league team which Romsey deserved to win.
Men’s 4s celebrated the end of the year with a good win over Poole Dolphins 6-2.
After a tight first half which ended 3-2 and saw two good strikes from Morgan R and one from Sean R , a great team goal started by Phil O and ably assisted by Tom W.
However Romsey knew they had to step things up in the second half, and they did.
Solid in defence giving the midfielders and attackers more licence to roam soon paid dividends and the important 4th goal was scored Tom W with it to settle Romsey nerves.
Two more goals soon followed with a audacious lob over the keeper from Morgan R and a calm close range finish from Sean R.
Poole heads had gone down and Romsey fully deserved their win after a great second half team performance.
Man of the match – Phil O , a solid midfield performance!
Romsey hosted Southampton 2xi in their last game before the Christmas break. Romsey started the game very slowly, making lots of unforced mistakes which eventually gifted Southampton the opportunity to go 1-0 up before 10 minutes had passed. As they gradually woke up, Romsey began to work their way out of the Southampton press and were kept in the game by GK Antonia Luckhurst who made some great saves to prevent the visitors going further ahead.
Over 50 members of the junior section and their families were joined by Father Christmas for a morning of fun and games at Romsey School.
7 teams made up of members from all age groups, coaches and parents played a 7 aside round robin tournament.
Hot chocolate and mince pies were served to maintain energy levels and everyone played in fine spirits to ensure that Santa will return on Christmas Eve to fill their stockings!
The U12 Romsey team put on a very strong performance against Winchester on Sunday.
Each girl gave one hundred percent in a match which saw the majority of attacking play by the formidable Romsey team.
Every player displayed greatly improved stick skills, and their fantastic pace and accurate passing up the field meant the Winchester goalie had a very busy morning!
P.O.M Harriet F.
Under 8s Romsey Tournament – Sunday 8 December
The 4th tournament of the season gave us an opportunity to play at home and host the tournament. The format was changed so that all matches would complete in 90 minutes to allow the Under 10s tournament to follow. This produced a very intense schedule for this young group with 3 consecutive matches, then a 20 minute break, followed by a further 3 matches. We felt in a strong position to benefit from this with a strong squad of 10 players, but due to injury and illness unfortunately Laurence and Emma had to withdraw. As both of them are key defensive lynch-pins, it presented a tough challenge to the squad and also the coach’s rotation plans to keep the players fresh. Such is the enthusiasm of the youngsters to gain tournament exposure that Rory and Hunter were keen to make the most of the others misfortune.
We started strongly against New Forest which meant that Cherry had an easy time sharing defensive duties with William. Hamish and Noah controlled the game well and both scored early on to calm nerves and enable early squad rotation. Final score 2-0.
Hamish swapped into defence for the next game against Andover A enabling Cherry to move back into midfield. We dominated the game and Noah picked up his second goal in 2 games to give Romsey a 1-0 win at the final whistle. The squad’s performance in these games were absolutely top class. The passing and movement was fantastic and a real pleasure to see after their hard work in training. In particular, Gracemade a great run from one side of the goal to the other at a free-hit which Cherry spotted and provided an excellent pass. We were playing well and were ready for the next match.
We hadn’t played Trojans since the 1st tournament in early October when they comfortably beat us in our only defeat of the season so far. So we were keen to show how much we had improved. It was a tense game with the team giving maximum commitment. The first 5 minutes action took place close to the Romsey goal, with the whole team tackling hard and trying to clear their lines. Hamish made some brilliant tackles and clearances in front of the goal which was reminiscent of the backs to the wall performance just over 12 months ago at the Southampton tournament. Unfortunatelyhistory repeated itself and we conceded a well-worked goal. Strangely, the rest of the game was much more even as the team managed to pass the ball out of defence with Hamish and Noah making strong runs towards the Trojans goal. We almost conceded a second goal after a very fast break, but William stepped out of defence to put off the attacker so he hit the post. In spite of more good tackling from Olivia, Grace, Jake and Cherry, we conceded a disappointing own goal just before the final whistle resulting in a final score of 0-2. Nevertheless it was a major improvement and we can look forward to playing them again in the New Year.
After a break to refuel with cake and sweets, the team took on Winchester. They shrugged of any disappointment from the Trojans loss and quickly got a 3-0 lead, all scored by Hamish. He was immediately substituted which allowed Gulliver and Hunter to come on and join the fun. With a less experienced midfield, the defence was quite busy breaking up attacks. Grace demonstrated that she can play anywhere as after scoring lots of goals in recent tournaments, she showed great timing in breaking up attack after attack then passing the ball out to midfield. Winchester scored a consolation goal so the end result was 3-1, another good win for Romsey.
The next match was against Andover B, but this was a stronger side than the ‘A’ side we played earlier. After we’d just missed the goal from an excellent cross, Andover broke up the pitch to open the scoring. They then repeated the trick a few minutes later, resulting in a 0-2 loss. Perhaps tiredness and missing 2 of our usual defenders contributed to this frustrating defeat.
However the team re-grouped again for the final match. Noah wasn’t showing signs of tiredness, running onto lots of passes from Hamish and the rest of the midfield. He scored a quick-fire hat-trick to take his total for the tournament to 5. Every tournament he comes alive in one of the games and is virtually unstoppable!
So after an hour’s worth of playing, we’d won 4 matches and lost 2. In some ways this could seem disappointing compared with previous tournaments, but the team’s attitude, commitment and resolve to adapt to the loss of 2 teammates was amazing and was reflected in the standard of hockey they played which was their best yet. We’ll certainly look forward to the remaining tournaments in the New Year and hope to continue the progress made in 2019.
Romsey B had a spectacular morning, winning all their 6 matches without conceding a single goal.
The team were on the attack from the start of the first game against New Forest B and were comfortable 4-0 winners, with goals from Zach and Charlie. The second game was equally impressive, with excellent passing in midfield from Evie and Imogen helping set up goals for Henry and Charlie in a 3-0 win. Match three again saw Henry and Charlie scoring the goals in another comfortable 4-0 win.
The fourth match against Southampton B proved rather tougher, with a late goal from Oscar sealing the win after some resolute defence from Rosie and Anna. The final two matches were comfortable again for Romsey, as they defeated Winchester B 4-0 and Trojans A 5-0 with goals from Henry, Oscar, Zach & Charlie.
A great performance from the whole team and Romsey remain undefeated this season!
After a shy start, the Romsey boys started to communicate and spread out on the pitch and we got to see some really great hockey. Southampton scored 1-0, 10 min into the game. In the 2nd part we saw Henry scoring two goals, one of a short corner from Rowan and the second assisted by Jake and Milo. The third part saw some lovely saves by Lewie but also another goal where he was alone against two Southampton players. Tom was voted “player of the match” in our team but I think it is important to say that all boys worked hard and deserved a “well done clap”. Thank you to Tom for umpiring and to Lisa for coaching.
It was Romsey Hockey club’s turn to host the latest mini festival of the season on a relatively warm and dry December morning. Romsey A team consisted of eight girls and played six matches against mixed teams continuing their impressive run of form.
The first match was against Southampton A and Romsey showed they were hungry for the ball right from the off with some fantastic passing which enabled them to keep possession for long periods of the game. Clara and Anna were excellent in defence tackling well and Daisy made a number of key saves in goal. The midfield trio of Caitlin, Maya and Elsie linked up well creating some excellent chances for Grace who was up front and on fire, scoring an incredible four goals with the match ending with a 4-0 win for Romsey.
The second match was against Andover A and the confident play continued. Elsie and Maya on the wing were both excellent at sticking to their positions helping Romsey use the full width of the pitch resulting in fantastic crosses across goal. Sophie and Clara worked well together in defence not conceding any goals. After a lot of Romsey pressure, Caitlin scored a hat–trick followed by another goal from Grace with the match ending with a 4-0 win to Romsey.
The next match was against Salisbury A and this was another strong performance from Romsey. Daisy was excellent at coming off her goal line to clear the ball with Clara and Sophie continuing to link up well in defence. Elsie and Maya hit some fantastic crosses across goal for Grace and Caitlin to convert. Caitlin scored another hat–trick with one of the goals getting a lucky deflection off a Salisbury player. Grace also scored after some fantastic individual dribbling past two Salisbury players. The match ended with a 4-0 win to Romsey.
The fourth match was against New Forest A and we knew this would be the most difficult match so far. Sophie took on the role of goalkeeper and made a number of fantastic saves. Romsey scored first and New Forest were quick to react to going one goal down and scored quickly in reply. This was a great test for Romsey A and they did not let their heads go down after conceding. Elsie made a quick run down the wing and struck the ball hard to go in the bottom right hand corner of goal. Romsey help on showing great composure on the ball.
Romsey A played Winchester A in their penultimatematch finishing with a 3–1 win to Romsey. Daisy was strong in midfield and made some timely tackles to gain back possession. Anna and Clara were pivotal in defence timing their runs well to clear the ball. Maya made a number of timely runs down the right wing and supplied a number of great crosses creating some excellent scoring opportunities with Grace, Elsie and Caitlin all converting into goals.
The final match was against Winchester B. The majority of the match was played in front of the Winchester goal with Romsey having numerous goal scoring opportunities with a lot of chances going narrowly wide of goal. Romsey were persistent and in the end their determination paid off scoring two late goals to end the match with a 2-0 win.
Six matches played and a win in each match saw Romsey remain unbeaten in all tournaments this season with yet another display of what can only be described as sensational hockey. Well played Grace, Daisy, Elsie, Maya, Anna, Sophie, Clara and Caitlin for working so well as a team throughout the whole tournament.