Bishop's Waltham Town 0, Romsey Town 3
LOW on goals and low on confidence, Bishop's Waltham slipped to two heavy home defeats in four days at the hands of Ringwood Town (on Saturday) and Romsey Town on Tuesday night.
With Luke Musselwhite - brother of Winchester City striker Jamie - now among the ranks, Waltham were eager to make amends for their 5-1 defeat against Ringwood when high-flying Romsey came to visit.
Musselwhite had the first shot on target, but fired straight at Mike Hookway after three minutes from a Glen Lickman flick-on.
Before long, though, Romsey started to get a grip, and it took a last-ditch (and rather dubious-looking) tackle from Romsey old boy Jamie Buckley to deny the marauding Simon De'ath a shot.
Romsey took the lead midway through the first half. Waltham keeper Andy Weeks had made some brave saves, but this time he made a hash of an attempted clearance. The ball fell to De'ath, who scored despite Weeks getting a hand to his shot, the ball trickling over the line as a defender slid in to try to clear.
Within a minute it was 2-nil, James Rolph and De'ath combining in a slick one-touch move that ended with Andy Kemp firing into the top right-hand corner.
Kemp pinged a free-kick against the bar as half-time approached, and after the break Romsey showed no sign of relinquishing their grip.
Musselwhite, shackled tightly by the excellent Paul King, could make little headway and the nearest Waltham came was with a long shot from Pete Williams that skimmed the crossbar.
But Romsey were still in the driving seat, and grabbed a third goal six minutes from time. Simon Woodley slotted home when a low right-wing cross was deflected conveniently to his feet.
In a scrappy, niggly ending there was still time for De'ath to strike the woodwork once more, but a fourth goal would have been a bit harsh on Waltham - who'd worked hard but lacked their visitors' class.
Bishop's Waltham Town 1, Ringwood Town 5
Ringwood striker Carl Fleet, who scored a hat-trick, was the architect of Waltham's Saturday reverse. Steve Geary and Sam Yates also netted for the winners.
Pete Williams pulled it back to 2-1 after Ringwood had scored twice in the first ten minutes, and the game was fairly even after that.
But three Ringwood goals late in the piece cooked the Bishops' goose - and left a final scoreline that rather flattered the visitors.
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