RAMPANT Romsey Town sprung the upset of the day in the Hampshire Senior Cup by beating Division 1 side Cowes Sports 4-3 in a thriller at the By-Pass Ground.

Trevor Holmes' Division 2 promotion-hunters sprinted into a 3-0 interval lead and then led the Islanders 4-1 before some tired Romsey legs started to tell near the end.

"We absolutely blitzed them in the first half when we took them apart," smiled the Romsey manager. "It was an outstanding first-half performance and it shows just how much progress we have made," added Holmes.

Deadly Simon De'Ath did the damage with a first-half hat-trick and he opened the scoring after 15 minutes following a pull-back from the byline.

De'Ath notched his second from the penalty spot on 20 minutes after Paul Smith had been brought down and then completed his treble ten minutes before half time after Andy Kemp's shot had been parried by the keeper.

Steve Quarmby's diving header reduced the arrears for the Islanders only for Smith to head home Town's fourth from a Simon Woodley free kick.

Phil McDonald netted with a penalty after he had been fouled before Elliott Day chipped the keeper from the edge of the area with ten minutes remaining to pull it back to 4-3.

"We didn't compete at all in the first half and then had enough chances to get back in it at 3-1, but give full credit to Romsey," added Cowes manager Derek Ohren.

Ringwood Town shook Sydenhams Wessex Division 1 championship chasers Gosport Borough by snatching a shock sixth-minute lead before eventually going down 2-1 at their Long Lane home.

Ian Rew, whose mistake led to Ringwood's opening goal, made amends just before half-time with a threaded through ball for Pabs Nyode to lift over the keeper.

Nyode grabbed the Gosport winner midway through the second half, Darren Robson's through ball releasing Ndoye, who rounded the keeper before slotting into the net.

"This isn't the easiest of places to come and it was a bit of a struggle for us today," admitted Boro' boss Mick Marsh.

There was nearly an upset at Alton Town where Sydenhams Wessex Division 2 leaders Locks Heath took a 15th-minute lead through a Mike Summers penalty, following a handball in the area.

Alton equalised in the second half courtesy of top-scorer Steve Poolton, and then won a penalty shoot-out 5-3 after extra time failed to produce any more goals.

Winchester City easily swept aside the challenge of Jersey side St Peters in the Channel Islands, with two-goal Liam Green, Mark Jones, Jamie Laidlaw, Jamie Musselwhite and substitute Kevin Brewster all on target in a 6-0 romp.

After humbling Hamble ASSC 8-0 in the league just a fortnight earlier, Lymington & New Milton eased through to the third round of the County Senior Cup with a comfortable 3-0 scoreline over the Planemakers.

Sam Carter gave the Linnets the lead on 58 minutes, Darren Crook added a second following some good work by Patrick James ten minutes later and then headed in his second and the team's third from another James delivery.

"We played OK but it was a little bit after the Lord Mayor's show. We played in front of nearly 900 people against Woking last week and a crowd of nearly nine this week!" smiled Linnets boss Ian Robinson.

A 75th-minute strike by Steve Bernard finally gave Christchurch a battling 1-0 verdict against Lymington Town, while goals by Justin Bennett (2), Glen Damon, Bobby Swayne and Vince Rusher gave Andover a 5-3 passage over BAT, who replied through Matt Czastka and two-goal Richie Gregory.