Farnborough Nth End 3 Romsey Town 2 SATURDAY was one of those days for Romsey Town - they had to field a weakened side, the pitch and facilities were far from perfect, and a series of controversial decisions went against them, eventually leading to defeat.

Without regulars like Simon De'ath, Andy Kemp, Richard Natt, Kenny Rowe and keeper Dave Rowe it was a patched-up side that took the field. But on the plus side defensive lynch-pin Paul King was fit again, and he did well in marshalling the Romsey back line.

In midfield, Eddie Carlin moved forward from defence to wide left with youngster Adam 'AJ' Jones slotting in on the right.

The revamped line-up settled down quickly, and half-time arrived without Romsey having been seriously threatened; Town had a few chances, but the fireworks were definitely to come.

At the break Romsey withdrew the injured Leathen Hanlon with Jamie Buckley taking his place up front alongside Matt Holmes.

The fun and games started on 50 minutes when Paul Xiberras gave Farnborough the lead; he appeared to be offside by some way, but the goal was allowed to stand.

Buckley appeared to be tugged back by the neck in the North End box, but nothing was given, and Sam Bennett was booked after a 'handbags' incident in which Romsey boss Trevor Holmes reckoned the North End player was the one who deserved punishment.

Worse was to follow when Carlin shepherded the ball out of play, apparently for a goal-kick.

"The referee had already given the goal-kick when the linesman flagged," said Holmes later.

"Nobody could work out what it was for, but apparently the linesman thought he spotted some contact between Eddie and his opponent after the ball had gone out.

"We were flabbergasted when the ref pointed to the spot." Paul Griffiths tucked away the penalty, and at 2-0 the game was slipping away.

But Town fought back, and before long Bennett and Chris Jones put together a neat move that finished with Buckley rifling the ball home from the six-yard line.

Late on, the action continued unabated. Griffiths produced a good near-post finish from a throw-in to make it 3-1, but Romsey still fought. Five minutes before the end Carlin, still smarting from the decisions that had gone against him, netted with a cracking volley from a corner.

There was still time for a further penalty shout to be rejected when Andy Wilcox appeared to be dragged back; in the end Romsey were pleased to draw the curtains on a match in which everything had gone wrong.

Romsey have a week off before their next fixture, at home to East Cowes Vics on April Fool's Day.