New Milton & District held off a spirited performance from Eastleigh to maintain their leadership of Hampshire Division One, but they are being chased hard by a disgruntled Romsey, who beat Sandown & Shanklin, but not without incident.

Gary Lovell got league strugglers Eastleigh off to a whirlwind start with a try in the first minute, a lead they tenaciously held for half an hour, but impressive scrum-half Watcyn Lewis went over, which was followed by Ricky Everingham just before the interval.

Eastleigh lost their way in the second half as Milton came out strongly, scoring three tries and two penalties to wrap up their fifth win from six starts in the league and keep their place at the top. Steve Broomfield posted two tries, while Everingham added his own second.

"It is fair to say that we had more control of the game after they scored," felt coach Norman Cracknell. "But to give Eastleigh their due, they stuck at it and gave a performance that belies their lowly position."

Romsey were most unhappy with the standard of refereeing in their 23-0 win over Sandown & Shanklin, as they had another player sent off, the second in as many weeks.

In dreadful conditions on a windswept and rain-lashed Sports Centre, Romsey opened up a 15-0 lead by the interval, thanks to Jason Lockrose and Nick Roach's tries.

But the game, which was generally clean, was disrupted when two Hurricanes players were sin-binned and Paul Hudson, the Romsey flanker, who had only been on the field for less than ten minutes, was given his marching orders for an alleged raised arm.

Although satisfied with the victory, the Romsey club were considering an appeal for Hudson and felt the official was "abysmal" in his handling of what was, in the conditions, otherwise a good game.

Fareham Heathens' promise of the last few weeks and Millbrook's injury turmoil were all very evident during Mark Steward's side's 29-0 win at the Lordshill Recreation Ground.

Three second-half tries with the wind and rain at their backs was enough to secure the two points and resign Millbrook, always so very difficult to beat on their own patch, to their fifth set of dropped points out of eight games at home.

Andy Hooper kicked Heathens into a 9-0 lead up the slope and into the wind. In the second half they kept the ball tight instead of using percentages of kicking with the wind and it paid off as Mark Dunning, Dave Brown and John Caulfield, with his second try since joining the club, all went over.

"At last, it comes together," beamed skipper Steward. "It was a great performance all-round in difficult conditions and all concerned are very happy with the result, the manner of it and the discipline shown throughout," pointing to a penalty count against them of just five.

Hamble's already dire season took two turns for the worse as they were dealt a two-point league deduction for fielding an unregistered player at Guernsey in September. Their 68-0 hammering at Farnborough could have done nothing for morale either.

Guernsey have closed to within two points of the leaders, but they certainly did not have it all their own way in beating lowly Nomads 37-3, Adam Stanley striking a penalty for the Portsmouth-based side.