Friendly

Saturday 15th July 2023

Kick Off 15.00 Actual 15.01

Romsey Town 2 Laverstock & Ford 5, attendance 58

37’ 0-1

41’ 0-2

44’ 0-3

51’ 0-4

56’ 1-4 (pen)

78’ 1-5

90’ + 1, 2-5

@ University of Southampton Sports Ground

Wide Lane

Eastleigh

SO50 5PE

No Admission or Programme.

I had visited the University of Southampton Sports Ground previously, back in 2012, when I saw Fareham Town beat Sporting Bishops Waltham 10-0 in a friendly, which was played on the 3G pitch here. The attraction of today’s match was that it was on the main grass pitch (Pitch 1) which was helpfully confirmed by Romsey Town via Twitter. It is railed on three sides and roped along the other. There are also dugouts on the entrance side.

The match was Wessex League Division 1 (Step 6) versus Wessex League Premier Division (Step 5) and was a massive improvement on the game this morning, which is hardly surprising. There was a very strong wind blowing across the pitch, which didn’t affect the game too much. There was an occasional rain shower too, but the pitch remained in perfect condition, even though there had been another match on it before this.

Laverstock & Ford missed the opportunity to open the scoring after thirteen minutes when they had a penalty saved. They dominated the first half, finally making the breakthrough eight minutes before halftime. By the interval it was 0-3 and they made it 0-4 six minutes into the second half. A penalty saw Romsey pull it back to 1-4, but Laverstock restored their four goal lead with twelve minutes left. A stoppage time goal saw Romsey pull it back to 2-5. A really good game, played with 100% commitment throughout.

On one of the outer pitches, over in the far corner (Pitch 6 or 8) a good few hundred yards away, Michelmersh & Timsbury were playing Warsash Wasps in another friendly. It would certainly warrant another visit here for the other grass pitches.