Romsey stay in touch.

ROMSEY stayed well up among the Wessex Division 1 leaders by drawing at Amesbury, but missed out on a chance to draw level on points with table-topping Hayling United.

Hayling, who have 36 points and a 54-10 goal difference, had no game, while Locks Heath (35 points) drew 0-0 at Warminster.

Romsey crept up to 34 points thanks to the point they picked up at Amesbury, but were more concerned about the two that got away.

They dominated the early stages in the heavy conditions and could have been three goals up in the first 20 minutes.

Amesbury were making no impression on their back four of Ross Gregory, Phil Proudley, Simon Woodley and Eddie Carlin and goalkeeper Mike Hookway was having little to do.

It was still goal-less at half-time, but Romsey did manage to make the breakthrough after 55 minutes when Carlin linked up with Tommy Donaldson and crossed for Neil Channon to score with a superb header from around 15 yards.

But within 10 minutes, the Wiltshire side drew level with a hotly-disputed penalty, awarded when Simon Woodley was adjudged to have fouled Danny Western.

Romsey manager Trevor Holmes was adamant that it wasn't a foul, but Western stepped up to score from the spot.

Good work by Woodley should have paved the way for a winner for Channon, but he stumbled after rounding the goalkeeper and lost his shooting chance.

"The lads played well and we could have closed the gap on the leaders, but it was one of those days when nothing went right," said the Romsey manager.

It was also a game when Romsey's injury worries wouldn't go away, with midfield man Wills Winfield coming off with a thigh strain and Channon also being substituted because of a recurrence of his thigh strain.

He was, however, well pleased with the performance of David Egerton, who had a lively full debut after coming on as substitute the previous week.

Tomorrow (Sat), Romsey are away to Farnborough North End.