Romsey Town suffered a 3-1 home defeat to Ringwood Town after having taken the lead in the first half.

The game started slowly before it exploded into life after 25 minutes when Romsey forward Ollie Bailey burst through the Ringwood defence to set up Kadeem Price to score from close range.

Romsey then had Dominic Collicott sent off for an off-the-ball incident ten minutes later but they managed to hold onto their one goal advantage going into half time.

The second half begun and the home side almost doubled their lead but a close range effort was well saved by the Ringwood keeper.

The visitors’ one-man advantage then started to tell as they equalised six minutes into the second half.

Not long after, the away side then took the lead before securing the victory with a third goal, a long range effort which left Romsey goalkeeper George Passingham with no chance as it rocketed into the back of the net.

This Saturday Romsey Town entertain Hamble Club in the Southampton Senior Cup at the Bypass Ground, kicking off at 2pm.

Following the last round’s demolition of Nursling, Town have a chance to put their league results to one side and turn their attention to putting a Cup run together.

Head coach Phillips said: “Obviously we’re all very disappointed following our defeat against Ringwood and it shows us again how fine the margins are, even in this league.

“At 1-0 up we were looking comfortable but the sending off changed the game and again it cost us.

“We have to be more ruthless in our game management so these big decisions don’t have the impact they’re currently having and cost us points.” Phillips is, however, looking forward to tomorrow’s game and said: “It’s been a good week training wise and the lads are up for the game. We’ll forget about the league for tomorrow and concentrate on getting into the draw for the next round of the cup.”

The following Saturday, Town’s first team are again at home, for the seventh game running, this time against New Milton in the league. The club have targeted this match as an opportunity to galvanise support for the team.

Vice Chairman Phil Rowland said “The level of support this season, in terms of people coming to watch, has been excellent when compared to last season.

“Obviously when any team has been relegated and the opening results in the next season haven’t been great, it’s easy to lose support, but the club has been very encouraged by the number of people continuing to watch, and indeed the numbers have significantly improved from last year when the club was in the Premier League.

“This season has seen a complete rebuild of both playing squads on the pitch as well as putting in the infrastructure off the pitch to secure Romsey Town FC as we move forward.

“Much of the work being done behind the scenes won’t necessarily be seen by the fans at the moment, and as such many people in Romsey will only take a view on the club from what they read in the Advertiser, which recently has been about our defeats.

“The New Milton game gives us the opportunity of saying to the people of Romsey, please come along to see what this club is trying to achieve both on and off the pitch and give your local football team your support.”