| Date | Saturday 7 November 2015 |
| Match | Royston Town v Aylesbury FC |
| Competition | Evostik League Southern: Division One Central |
| Result | Lost 2-0 |
| Attendance |
143 |
| Royston Scorers | – |
| Crows MoM |
Ryan Ingrey |
Another disappointing afternoon for the Crows as they came up worryingly short against the challenge of an organised and determined Aylesbury FC team that accepted the match conditions and heavy pitch for what they were and got on with their jobs.
Suspensions for Scott Bridges and Kaan Fehmi bit hard and Stuart Bridges failed a pre-match fitness test meaning the strength in depth of Steve Castle’s squad was to be tested today – but the selected starting line-up still looked well equipped for the task ahead.
Early calamity as some weak defending allowed Moles’ striker Ryan O’Toole to break straight through centrally and after just 3 minutes the Crows were one down and chasing. 0-1.
Royston reacted positively and pushed forward with urgency – but ultimately no real quality in front of goal. With Castle asking for his team to “up the pace” we saw continued frantic forward movement, winning a series of corners and free-kicks that Aylesbury scrambled to deal with.
The Crows had the ball in the net on 18 minutes from a corner but the referee adjudged a foul on visitor’s keeper James Weatherill and the Rhys Hoenes effort was chalked off.
Continued Crows pressure up to half time demonstrated overall dominance in game play but the Moles defended well whilst the Royston strike force could not fashion any real clear attempts on target, sometimes looking shot shy and hesitant. Despite continued time-wasting throughout the half the referee only added on one minute and the half finished 0-1 to the visitors.
Again lack of penetration in front of goal in the second half and some bizarre substitutions did nothing to change the pattern of this lack-lustre game and Aylesbury effectively sealed the points on 65 minutes as O’Toole again punished some poor defending and slotted a shot low under Ron Yates. 0-2.
There is a long way to go in this season and it is apparent that all the teams in the top ten of this division, with the possible exception of AFC Rushden & Diamonds who remain unbeaten, are prone to dropping points and a good run from any team, hopefully the Crows, will stake a place in the season ending play off positions. Bedford Town at home on Tuesday is a good place to start.
Team: Yates, May, Brathwaite, Watters (DeLaSalle), McDevitt, Bradshaw, Towner, Okay (Powell), Mason (Robins), Ingrey, Hoenes.
Subs not used – Scott-Morriss, Castiglione.
