U16 Boys pull into second place in league after beating 1st place City of Portsmouth 4-3 in best performance of season… so far!
A sluggish start, which nearly gave Portsmouth an early goal, belied the remaining 68 minutes of the match as the U16’s showed depth, speed and strength across the full team. The match saw great pressure from both sides as the play moved quickly from one end to the other, with fast breaks into the D, a total of 11 penalty corners and a score sheet which Romsey kept managing to just stay ahead of Portsmouth on.
Romsey goals from Rufus (2’), Morgan (penalty corner, 6’), Morgan (drag flick, 22’) and Noah (penalty flick, 53’) and 5 saves of direct goal shots by Rob (GK) kept the pressure on Portsmouth. The whole team gave it their all with Ben Sluman keeping pressure up front and Noah, James and Ben leading a strong mid-field in both defence and offence.
The last Portsmouth goal in the 67th minute looked like they may have the momentum to manage an equaliser in the dying minutes, but Romsey stayed strong till the end. With one point between each of the top 3 teams in the league, a strong match against 3rd placed Southampton next weekend will set us up well for another shot at the title!
U16 Girls Cup Heartache
Romsey U16 Girls faced a stern Challenge on Remembrance Sunday against a very strong Salisbury side.
The match started at 2.15pm prompt after a well observed minutes silence.
Romsey started briskly and were quick into the tackle with Clare H winning the ball in midfield and working the ball to Grace M who was working hard to advance the play down the right.
Salisbury were strong defensively and repelled the attack and started to apply pressure immediately, their passing was crisp and expansive and Romsey had to be on their mettle to contain them with excellent defending from Antonia L and Ellie E in the full back positions.
Romsey then had a break with Tessa D making a great run down the wing forcing the Salisbury defence and keeper into work.
Salisbury now found themselves under pressure and the Romsey midfield were working hard with Jess G; pushing the ball up to Jess W who was making a great run into space. Romsey forced a defensive error from Salisbury and Anna R stole in to finish smartly in the corner 1:0 Romsey!
This spurred Salisbury on and they really got the passing and moving together and Romsey were under real pressure and faced a succession of short corners which saw fantastic and brave defending from Mollie O and Katie S.
There was five minutes to half time and Salisbury just kept coming Daisy R was making save after save but finally Romsey were breached and Salisbury scored 1:1.
The second half started and Romsey were putting some good passes together and Liz F was trying hard to get Romsey up the pitch. Salisbury picked up from where they left off and it was not long before they scored a fine team worked goal. To make matters worse they then got a quick third goal and were really in the ascendancy.
Romsey did not give up and all the players were working really hard to stem the flow Emily J worked back and made a great interception, Daisy R came out of goal to make a wonderful smothering save taking the ball and the attacking player, both showing 100% commitment.
Alas Romsey could not stop Salisbury scoring 3 more goals to make the final score 6:1, however Romsey worked very hard and defended extremely well to keep the scoreline respectable.
Well played Salisbury!
Joint players of the match:
Daisy R fantastic display in goal and Liz F who worked very hard in midfield.
M4s hard done by Lavant
Romsey were disappointed to take nothing from this game, in which the scoreline did not reflect the play, and Romsey felt decisions didn’t quite fall their way.
An evenly balanced opening saw Lavant take the lead from a penalty corner, after a Romsey defender was sent to the half way line at the first taking for holding his stick in the air ahead of the goal line. The man advantage was nearly cancelled out with Romsey clearing the ball first through Lukasz Suleja twice and then Andy Moger, but the ball stayed in side the circle for Lavant to force it past Ollie O’Hara in goal.
After O’Hara made a great save from a Lavant shot to avoid it becoming 2-0, Romsey went on the offensive.
Stan Cazaly weaved his way through the Lavant defence only to see his shot well saved by the keeper, and both Bryn Wathen and Barry Hatch had firm shots padded away. Romsey almost equalised from a penalty corner but Matt Dukes shot was saved and the follow up cleared.
The second half started with Romsey still in attack mode, and as Sean Rawles played the ball to Colin Harwood from a penalty corner, he passed to Duke to swivel and shoot to make it 1-1.
The turning point in the game came mid-way through the half, after the Lavant keeper had been forced in to making two more fine saves from Wathen and Duke, Josh Harwood played a ball through to Stan Cazaly on the far post, he stopped the ball and pushed it past the keeper for 2-1. With the ball at the centre cirlce and the teams lined up for the pushback, the Lavant umpire at the far end of the pitch consulted with his colleague and the goal was ruled out for a lifted ball. This was harsh on Romsey, but with Lavant keen to win and providing both umpires, it was a pill they had to swallow.
As against the Isle of Wight a few weeks earlier, with 15 minutes to go, Lavant were awarded a penalty corner and as Ollie O’Hara saved the high flick it dropped to a Lavant player to push it over the line for 2-1 to the home side.
Romsey were crushed and while pushing for an equaliser, and reflecting on their goal that was disallowed, let Lavant have the run of the Romsey half and Lavant quickly scored four more goals with numbers overloading Romsey in the last ten minutes to provide a scoreline that did not reflect the game.
An interesting match awaits in 2019 at home for Romsey as Lavant push to win the league.
U10s are awesome too!
The Roger Merry memorial and Southampton U10 tournament saw much more equally competitive teams than last time and Romsey was less outstanding. That made them work harder and practising coaching tips given by Natalie.
Romsey A played five matches of intense hockey three draws and two wins.
First team up was Trojans B in which Charlie scored the only goal despite several attempts from both Caitlin and Oscar (1-0).
Next up was Salisbury and again, Charlie scored the first goal of the match. Salisbury played the ball nicely towards our goal and managed to get the ball pass our defenders Clara and Anna S and score, ending the match 1-1.
Third match of the day was against Andover. Oscar, Maggie and Caitlin teamed up well as midplayers, passing the ball up to strikers Charlie, Anna andJoe. A long passing from Charlie gave Joe the chance to push the ball into the goal and despite several more shots against the goal, the ball never went over the line. Andover got hold of the ball and run for our goal, which was empty, and put it in only just before the horn went off and the game finished 1-1.
The match against Bournemouth was incredible equal and both teams played well. Bournemouth had a disallowed goal from outside the D and after a lot of hard work Charlie scored a well-deserved goal, finishing the match 1-0 to Romsey.
Finally, the fifth and last match of the day, we were up against Winchester A, a very strong team with a fully equipped fierce goalie. Our defenders, Elise and Clara, worked hard on keeping Winchester out of our goal. Much of the game was in front of Winchesters goal but none of the shots went in and the match ended in a draw 0-0.
A tournament with less goals scored from the team but with fantastic team work and numbers of successful passes. Well done team A; Anna S, Elsie, Joe, Charlie, Oscar, Clara, Caitlin and Maggie.
U8s Are Awesome!!!
Romsey’s U8s played in their first mini festival of the season on Sunday. For half of the squad this was their first games for the club and all of them were awesome!
The crisp and sunny morning meant that although warm in the sun there was a distinct chill in the air but after a good warm up the young squad of 6, 7 and 8 years old were ready for their first match. Marshalled into a 2-4-2 formation by coach Robertson the players confidently strode onto the pitch.
First up were Salisbury and Romsey soon started to dominate. Both teams were fielding several debutants and as a result the more experienced players quickly dominated. Henry and Zach were able to make some telling runs and ended up with two and one goals respectively.
After a short high calorie refueling break our young hockey stars were immediately on fire against Southampton. The whole team camped in Southampton’s half for the duration of the game. Olivia was very brave, despite an injury, and kept pushing the ball forward into the danger area. Romsey ended up winning 6-0, Henry getting two, Hamish one and Zach completing a hattrick.
Trojan’s Bs were next in Romsey’s sights and although they showed a little more resistance, we quickly took control of the game. Zach scored two but the highlight was Cherry scoring her first goal for the club having only started playing this season.
Trojan’s As proved to be a completely different prospect but Romsey produced an amazing team performance. The opposition had been seen beating their last opposition 8-0 so it was clear that the next assignment was going to be a tough one. It lived up to expectation. Trojans produced a fierce onslaught that Romsey very nearly managed to keep out. All players should great technique and perseverance in defence. Emma was a rock, always strong in the tackle and regularly winning the ball. Grace and Cherry were like a pair of terriers hunting the ball down and beating it out of the Romsey D. The performance of the match though was from Hamish who battled hard on the goal line and kept out countless Trojans shots on goal. It was almost inevitable in the end that Trojans scored but the effort from the Romsey players didn’t deserve the loss.
Exhausted but still happy last up was a game versus Andover. Romsey’s enthusiasm kept them going though and they were able to dominate again. Noah showed great resolves throughout and made a number of telling contributions in defence and attack. In the end Henry scored a hattrick enabling Romsey to finish the day on top.
A great morning in the sunshine with 15 goals scored and only 1 conceded. Everyone played brilliantly and the Romsey’s team spirit was awesome!
U10s have amazing time in Southampton
‘B’ enjoyed a lovely sunny morning at the Southampton U10s tournament. Coach Jen Metcalf had the team well organised and everyone can be proud of their performance.
In their first game Romsey took on New Forest B. The match was great to watch with both teams playing some lovely passing hockey. Defenders Camilla, Grace and Jake were frequently called into action but managed to repel every attack. In the dying seconds Freddie burst through from midfield and played a perfect pass to Ben, whose shot crossed the line just as the hooter sounded for the end of the match.
Romsey were pitted against New Forest C in Game 2 and again ran out 1-0 winners. More sterling defending from Camilla and Maya was needed early in the game, before Jake’s pass set up Dylan to score from close range. However Game 3 against Bournemouth proved tougher and Romsey lost 2-0.
Against Southampton in Game 4 Romsey started slowly and conceded and early goal. However the team weren’t downhearted, with Grace and Anna in particular worked hard in midfield. Perseverance was rewarded when Freddie scored a deserved equaliser and the game ended 1-1.
The final game also ended in a draw, this time against a strong Andover team. Both teams had good chances and Jake produced a stunning goal-line save, but neither defence could be beaten so it ended 0-0.
M4s struggle on the Island
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.
M4s put Gosport to the sword
Romsey put Gosport to the sword, and but for some excellent saves from the Gosport keeper could have scored double figures in this one sided match.
Stan Cazaly was played in down the right by Man of the Match Josh Harwood, and his pull back was thundered home first time by Colin Harwood for 1-0. Then Josh Harwood played in Harwood senior for a first time strike for 2-0.
Stalwart Carl Hendy then got on the score sheet for 3-0, and again 4-0 just before the break.
The defence of Lukasz Suleja and Will Richards remained solid pushing up debutant, 64 year old Nigel King and Simeon Field from full backs, and a fine move down the left from Matt Duke to Josh Harwood to Stan Cazaly saw the youngster again set up Colin Harwood for his hat trick.
Andy Moger then scored the goal of the game, picking the ball up from King and powering in to the circle to smash in to the corner for 6-0.
Gosport pulled a goal back with a fine breakaway leaving keeper Bryn Wathen no chance to cover, but Romsey bounced back with a seventh when Hendy got his hat trick, and topped it off with his fourth from a fine lifted pass from Harwood senior at a penalty corner for an 8-1 scoreline
Christmas Curry 2018
This year’s Club Christmas Curry is on Saturday 8th December. The venue is the Romsey Town Hall, and the doors open at 7:30pm. The tickets are £25 per head. Please see your captain / manager to purchase a ticket. Christmas jumpers are compulsory.
Marvellous Minis
Romsey took two teams to the Winchester mini tournament last Sunday.
Romsey 1
Romsey 1 enjoyed the day and showed great spirit despite some challenging matches. Special mention should go to Zach W and Hamish N, who both stepped up from the U8s and played really well throughout.
In their first game the team were caught cold (literally!) and conceded an early goal, but some stoic defending from Hamish N and Ben G kept Andover at bay for the rest of the game. Defending was the order of the day again in game 2 when they came up against a very strong Bournemouth team. They lost 2-0 but gained in confidence throughout and Dylan W almost scored at the end of the game.
Game 3 saw Romsey playing some lovely passing hockey as they took on New Forest. Joe G scored the team’s first goal of the day when he ran onto Dylan W’s precise pass. The New Forest goal was under constant pressure and Romsey were unlucky not to extent their lead, but the 1-0 win gave them great confidence
Game 4 was again a tough match with some tenacious battling from Elsie D and Maggie N in particular, but Southampton proved too strong and Romsey lost 2-0. The team were not to be downhearted and bounced back brilliantly in Game 5 with a 2-0 win against Winchester, with goals from Joe G and Zach W.
By Game 6 everyone was feeling rather tired after a long morning of hockey. Trojans dominated the game and Maya S was forced to make several goal-line saves, and ultimately the team did well to restrict a strong Trojans team to 2-0.
Romsey 2
Winchester hosted the U10 mini tournament and Romsey arrived enthusiastically with two teams. Romsey 2 played with seven players and without any subs and all players were made to swap positions for each match. Clara, Anna, Otto, Freddie, Oscar, Grace and Caitlin all played to their full potential and really showed that great team work really does pay off! Romsey 2 were unbeatable and they barely left the oppositions half of the pitch, winning all six matches! Anna, Clara and Otto were super in defence, protecting the goal when playing without a goalie and being confident to go in for tackles. It was Grace and Otto’s first tournament and they both did brilliantly. Grace and Caitlin showed some great link up play as forwards with Grace scoring six goals and Caitlin three, out of the 13 Romsey goals scored on the day. Freddie and Oscar played well in midfield with strong shots and arguably sometimes too high balls, but both boys scored two goals each.
Below is a list of the match scores. Well done team, you all played fantastically and with amazing energy.
Salisbury-Romsey 2 0-2
Romsey 2-Bournemouth 2 2-1
Southampton 1-Romsey 2 0-1
Trojans 2-Romsey 2 0-4
Romsey 2- New Forest 1 1-0
Romsey 2-Winchester 3 3-0
First match of the day was against Salisbury and Freddie and Oscar were keen to show their confidence on the ball with great skills and had a few disallowed goals due to their shots being too high. Grace scored the first goal after good dribbling up to the D by Oscar and then assisted by Caitlin. Minutes later Freddie shot a hard ball straight into the goal and the match finished 2-0 to Romsey. The strong defence of Clara and Otto were resilient in their tackles.
The next match was against Bournemouth and Freddie was “on fire” and started the match with a nice shot to score just minutes into the game followed by a great assist to Caitlin who scored our second goal. Towards the end of the match Bournemouth was fortunate to score through Grace’s legs and the match ended 2-1.
In the match to follow, Southampton 1 put hard pressure on our team and this was the match that challenged us most. Grace scored our only goal assisted by Oscar.
Nat Jupp the coach went through a serious pep talk before the match against Trojans, which was expected to be our hardest game of the day. On the pitch Romsey dominated the play and won 4-0. Early in the match, Grace scored assisted by Caitlin again and then Freddie dribbled to Oscar who scored our second goal. In quick succession we scored another two goals, by Caitlin and Grace who were a great partnership in front of goal.
In the match against New- Forest 1, Caitlin scored the only goal and Otto shone by fending off two near misses from New-Forest 1.
In our final game it was time to meet the hosting club, Winchester 3. Grace managed to be in the right place when needed and scored the first goal. Romsey had several attempts at the goal and after some great passing in and around the D Oscar hit a smashing shot up into the corner of the goal. In the last minute of the match Grace managed to put in a 3rd goal after great stick skills from both Caitlin and Oscar. Since the team decided to play without a goalie, Anna in defence had an important job of keeping the opponents away from our goal.
It was fantastic to see them all working hard and having fun in a tournament that couldn’t have gone any better. Well done to all team members; Otto, Freddie, Clara, Caitlin, Oscar, Grace and Anna.