Date	Tuesday 9 September 2014
Match	Royston Town v Beaconsfield SYCOB
Competition	Southern  League: Central Division One
Result	Won 3-1
Attendance	132
Royston Scorers	Fehmi(2), Scott Bridges
Crows MoM	Scott Bridges

The Crows put together a game of two differing halves to take three deserved – but somewhat ugly – points to secure back to back victories for the first time this season.

The first period was painful to watch as move after move broke down with ill-judged passes and over-anxious team play. It started brightly as Beaconsfield keeper, Sam Bunting, pulled off a top class save following a great cross by Scott Bridges that found a soaring Craig Hammond who did everything right only to see his header saved by the diving Bunting who tipped the ball onto the post and away.

The closing down and haranguing from the Royston midfield was encouraged and visible and certainly at top speed, but the quality shown when the ball was often re-won was poor and this tetchy and loose play led to the visitors taking the lead in the 12th the ball out to Robbie Nightingale who was ambushed too easily and two swift moves later as Lee Thompson collected a low pass and slotted the ball in the corner of the disbelieving Bastock’s net.

Rallying calls sounded all round as the home side started again – unfortunately still not taking enough care when on the ball. Possession was not being retained high up the pitch and the midfield player’s efforts to support forward moves found themselves stranded as play broke down and the defensive line were equally slow to move up encouraging the Beaconsfield players to break far too often.

Half chances were coming the Crows way but no real efforts on goal came about until the 30th minute when a moment of better play from Nightingale saw him make a run up the right channel and a look up and accurate cut back found the predatory Kaan Fehmi in space and his first time shot found the net bringing noticeable team, bench and crowd relief.

The standard of ball retention didn’t improve up to half-time and the under-current of frustration in broken down ball play was audible. Steve Castle must have let his team know in no uncertain terms that this level of play was sub-standard as the players responded well in the second half and put in a much improved 45 minutes.

Four minutes in and a Fehmi free-kick just outside the box somehow found its way through the crowd and into the goal possibly getting the finest touch from either a home or away player and the Crows took the lead in this game. Castle made two relatively early changes seeing Ross Collins replace Nightingale in midfield, then Reece Dobson took on the attacking role from Hammond.

Royston controlled this half of football limiting their visitors chances to either long shots or closed down efforts and a third goal for the Crows effectively sealed this game when on 65 minutes Dobson’s run found himself deep in the SYCOB penalty area when his turn saw him step on the ball and fall only to regain his footing quickly, look up and play an intelligent ball back to the lurking Scott Bridges who powered in centrally to score his third goal in as many games.

A final substitution saw youngster George Powell replace Dave Theobald at centre half and the home team continued to dominate this period keeping most of the better play in the Beaconsfield half but not adding to the 3-1 score-line.

After a frustrating and poor first half the Crows rallied sufficiently to put in an improved second half performance to take all three important league points.

Team: Bastock, Bradshaw, Endacott, Theobald (Powell), Wharton, Bridges Scott, Bridges Stuart, Nightingale (Collins), Fehmi, Hammond (Dobson), Watters.