NORTH HANTS DFA SENIOR CUP FINAL

Romsey Town (0) v Basingstoke Town (1) 6

Last Tuesday evening at Foxcotte Park, Andover witnessed a  third consecutive appearance in this competition’s final between Romsey and Basingstoke and led to a similar outcome to the two previous encounters when ‘Stoke have prevailed. This time the margin of victory was emphatic as the holders blitzed Town with five second half goals after taking a single goal lead into the half-time interval, writes Tony Galsworthy.

Romsey made the worse possible start to the game when they conceded a penalty in the third minute. A long throw into Town’s penalty area caused confusion and when Sa-Sean Lutumba attempted to clear the ball  he was adjudged to have fouled an attacker.  Clark cooly converted the penalty and ‘Stoke continued to pile on the pressure with Miles Bartram called into action to make a fine double save from Armsworth in the 20th minute.

The Bypass Boys were finding it hard to retain possession and when they gave away the ball in midfield, Gallagher’s 25 yard effort saw Bartram produce another diving save. Town responded with a searching cross from Mark Fawley that ’Stoke’s ‘keeper Grant punched away, then a free kick from Keegan Kelly saw Grant push the ball away to Maciej Marcinkowski whose lobbed cross was hurriedly cleared to safety. Next Grant had to race from his area to reach a through ball ahead of Harley Russell, but his clearance fell to Kelly who tried an audacious long range effort that went narrowly wide. As half time approached Bartram and George Ockwell made goal saving blocks  to restrict their opponents to a slim advantage at the interval.

‘Stoke netted a quickfire double at the start of the second half with strikes from Brown and Barrett giving them a three goals’ lead as the Southern League’s outfit pace and quality proved too much for Town’s over stretched defence. Bartram was called on to make another double save but could do nothing when finally being beaten by a wicked deflection for an own goal from   a corner to give ‘Stoke a fourth goal in the 68th minute.

Bartram continued his man of the match performance when he tipped over a shot from Gallagher. In the last five minutes of the contest, ‘Stoke put a gloss on the scoreline with two more goals and sandwiched between was Romsey’s best chance of a consolation goal when a clever lofted pass from Josh Bowerman left Hubert Cegielka one on one with Grant who manged to foil the teenage striker.

As the final whistle blew on a brave performance by Romsey against accomplished opposition, who also had the referee to thank for failing to penalise their often over physical approach, Town supporters loudly applauded the effort put in by their team which they reciprocated. With the summer break ahead Town boss Andy Samuels and his coaching staff will have a busy time ahead, planning how to achieve a marked improvement on this season’s  league campaign.