Date	Saturday 21 July 2012
Match	Royston Town v Histon
Competition	Pre-Season Friendly
Result	Won 2-1
Royston Scorers	Matt Standen, Martin Standen

The Crows continued their early good pre season form with a notable Conference North Division scalp on Saturday. Despite being without a number of players due to injury and holiday commitments the team put on a good display in difficult hot conditions and were well worth their win in the end.

Histon, two divisions higher in the non-league pyramid were making their first outing of the season and were under new management as of just a few days ago. Their early rustiness was shown up by a vibrant Crows team who raced into a two goal lead inside 10 minutes.

A patient build up in the opening attack of the game on two minutes gave Ryan Ingrey a chance to shoot from just outside the box with the keeper squirming the ball to Matt Standen who finished from eight yards.

Royston continued to press and won a corner which Ryan Lockett whipped in to the near post area. Luke Robins met the delivery which the keeper parried but Martin Standen reacted quickest to head into the net from 6 yards.

Moments later it could have been three when another corner caused havoc in the visiting defence with Matt Standen having a close range shot blocked on the line by a combination of keeper and defender.
The game began to settle and Histon started having more of the ball looking particularly threatening on the counter attack but The Crows defended well limiting their opponents to just half chances with Will Norris in goal dealing with any routine comings.

The hosts lost their way a little towards half time in terms of the quality on the passing and delivery and no more notable chances were created before the interval.

Histon were able to make a number of changes at half time with Royston boss Paul Attfield having limited options and a smaller squad on the day. The larger squad was probably more beneficial in the hot conditions and the fresher Histon legs started the second half brightly and scored within five minutes.

A decent delivery some 25 yards out from a wide position was met by an equally fine header from Holman ten yards out giving Norris no chance. Histon continued to press but created few chances with their best coming from a bullet ten yard header that brought an excellent one handed stop from Norris in goal.

The Crows did themselves full justice by wrestling control of the game in the remaining quarter and created good chances to extend their lead further. Matt Standen cut inside a centre half and shot from 18 yards which the keeper blocked and Luke Robins had two good sights on goal, one which flashed wide and another lob, with the keeper off his line, that was off target. The best chance fell to Dan Apostolos after a sweeping move cut open the Histon defence but his angled 18 yard effort smacked the face of the crossbar and was scrambled clear.

Overall this was another excellent work out for the side with notable absentees and the players would have benefited from the work rate put in by themselves in hot weather conditions

Team: Norris (Reynolds), Endacott (Beck), Wilson, Bradshaw, Martin Standen, Collins, Lockett, Bronti (Apostolos), Ingrey (Brennan), Matt Standen, Robins