Romsey Advertiser's Articles

 

'It was a weekend when most pundits would have pointed north to Wembley or Hamden Park or south to the Stade de France for the highlights of sporting endeavour, but the hardy souls of Romsey Road Runners and Halterworth Harriers would beg to differ. This was the weekend of the first inter-club football match, as much to cement the excellent relations between the two clubs as to allow for bragging rights.

Romsey kicked off in the first half and were soon pressing home attack after attack through their two strikers, Tam Ryan and Kate Clements ably supported by midfielders Angie Stuckey, Heidi Williams, Iain Cross and Iain's friend Bradley, only to find themselves frustrated by Halterworth Harriers' solid midfield and back four of Barry Mills, Guy Poppy, John Kaputin, Judy Cutbill, Ian Lochray and Dave Arnott ably supported by Peter Haig and Martin Rosell, leaving little for the Harriers keeper, Jon Tilt, to worry about, other than the abilities of his left back who was heard asking plaintively why no one was taking part in the line-out with him and when the first scrum was going to happen.

The Halterworth strikers, Jenny Baverstock-Poppy and Jon Vamplew made a few tentative forays into opposition territory but the formidable Romsey defence of Chris Lane, Mark Stuckey, Steve Davies and Lloyd Davies held firm as did their goalkeeper, Raymond Masters who saved numerous shots over the bar.

The game moved on apace when the Halterworth Goalkeeper swapped places with the grizzled midfield general John Kaputin and put away the first of his several goals of the afternoon.

The second half saw a change of fortune for the Road Runners with return scores by Lloyd Davies and Paul Cutbill who both produced dazzling pieces of personal brilliance that would have outwitted the great Peter Schmichael himself, or so the Harriers goalkeeper Martin Rosell would have had everyone believe. Romsey's Ollie Cutbill, Paul Cross and Greg Roulston also contributed to keeping the the second half scoreline at 2-2 with some excellent play in midfield.

A final score of 5-2 to Halterworth didn’t fairly reflect the passion and commitment shown by both sides and at the end of the day it was a game of two halves with good spirited football the winner.

Unfortunately, one of the Halterworth players, Guy Poppy, was carried from the field with a snapped Achilles tendon and is expected to be out of action for several weeks. Both clubs wish him a speedy recovery.

Back on road running front, two members of the Romsey Road Runners football team had already competed in the Fleet 10K that morning, Iain Cross finishing in 37:23 and Heidi Williams in 47:18.

Sarah Thorn and Sally Rouse were also out running in the Norwich Union Healthcare Rose Bowl 5 Mile. Both ladies enjoyed this multi-terrain course and Sally, who is Romsey Road Runners' newest member won the accolade of being the first lady to cross the finish line.