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.
