ROCK-BOTTOM Romsey Town crashed to their biggest Sydenhams Premier defeat of the season in wretched conditions at Hamworthy United tonight.

Carl Bennett's side were smashed 8-1 by the Hammers on a miserable, soggy evening at the County Ground.

Romsey fell behind early and, once Hamworthy’s second had gone in, heads dropped and by half-time they were 5-0 down.

Come the final whistle they had been buried under an avalanche of goals from Ben Osborne (3), Russell Cook (3), Shaun Brian and Dom Allen with only a David Maps reply to show for their efforts.

“It was a bad day at the office and we got smashed,” admitted Bennett. “Conditions were horrendous, but that sounds like an excuse. Hamworthy played on the same pitch we did and I take my hat off to them. They were much better than us.

“We came out with a bit more desire in the second half and Ryan Lambert’s hit the bar, but it was just one of those nights.

“We’ve got an important game against Fawley coming up at home on Saturday and we need to get this out of our minds quickly.”

Bournemouth Poppies gave their survival hopes a welcome shot in the arm with a 1-0 home win over Verwood Town – Luke Ingram grabbing the late winner.

It was a decent night too for third-to-bottom Downton who came back from behind to force a 2-2 draw at Blackfield & Langley. Craig Feeney and Micky Hubbard got the Watersiders’ goals.