First-half goals by Lewis Birch and Joe Welch earned Romsey a vital 2-0 win over Southampton University at Wide Lane.

The points nudged the Abbeymen out of the immediate South League Hampshire/Surrey Regional Division 2 relegation zone.

It was Romsey’s first win since early November and halted a run of five successive defeats in which they had conceded 21 goals.

“To a large extent we dominated the game and thoroughly deserved our win,” beamed Romsey coach Jim East.

“We got our preparation spot-on – everyone complied with the Friday night ‘social curfew’ and we were ready and up for it for the early morning start.”

Romsey set their stall early on with Birch setting up and almost finishing a chance which ended with his shot flashing across the face of Sam Mead’s goal.

The University probably played their best hockey after that – Loz Scott blocking one effort from Seb Lancaster – and it was somewhat against the tide that Romsey took the lead.

Ben Mullan and Sam Barcia combined around the top of the D to set up Chris Mason, whose effort was parried by Mead, but seized upon by the alert Birch.

Teenage centre-back Joe Welch continued his comeback from leg injuries with another commanding performance.

He was a regular threat at set-pieces and after Mead had palmed out one drag flick, Welch calmly drilled the next through the goalkeeper’s legs to give Romsey a 2-0 half-time lead.

Romsey completed their first clean sheet since mid-October as the Wessex students stumbled and fumbled their way through a series of poor short corner routines.

With drag flick hotshot Adam Cope engrossed in his maths studies, the university lacked any organisation from set pieces, an area of play they need to work on if they are to pull clear of the relegation drop zone.