Romsey Town emerged with huge credit when they took on Sydenhams Wessex league Division One leaders Team Solent at Test Park. In a very even first half, where Town more than matched their hosts and arguably played the better football, two goals in the last four minutes of the half by Solent saw Romsey go into the break trailing.

“It was extremely tough on the side,” said Town boss Andy Samuels, whose side were eventually beaten by a flattering 4-0 margin. “Our shape and game plan certainly surprised Solent and to go into the dressing room two down having played so well was hard to take.”

The second half saw Solent come more into the game, although they scored their decisive third goal at a time when Town were again on top and looking the more likely to score themselves.

With just two minutes remaining, Solent added a fourth to give the score line a rather flattering look.

Samuels added: “In all honesty, we’ve been beaten by a side that has that quality in players like Sam Byles and Jesse (Waller Lassen) who have been in and around the pro game.

“Credit to Solent, they’ve taken their chances and perhaps have just shaded it overall, but they know they’ve been given a real tough game.”

On Tuesday Romsey travelled to Pewsey Vale and came away with a 1-1 draw.

The first half saw both teams struggle to get any form of control of the game and certainly Town were guilty of not reproducing the type of performance at Test Park.

The only highlight of note was Indrit Elezi’s excellent long range effort which crashed against the bar in what was an instantly forgettable first half.

The second half, however, proved to be much more exciting.

Pewsey opened the scoring before Matt Hardy equalised, calmly slotting home when one-on-one with the keeper.

Hardy saw his effort come back off the bar and a Liam Cooke shot was cleared off the line.

Samuels said: “Despite a well below first half performance, I’m pleased with the character shown by the lads.

“We really weren’t at it at all first half and we certainly had a few words to say at half time about that, but second half we were much better.

“The attitude and willingness to pull together is brilliant within this squad but we now have to be more consistent throughout games.

“We were excellent for 80 minutes on Saturday but only good for 45 tonight.

“We need to be much more consistent throughout the game and have better game management.

“We have players with good quality and our attitude is spot on and I have no doubt we’ll have a good run in.

“I’ve looked at games recently thinking we could and perhaps should have got more points from them.

“Having said that, I’m pleased we battled back to earn a point away from home against a difficult team to play against.”