| Date | Saturday 26th September 2015 |
| Match | Royston Town v North Greenford |
| Competition | Evostik League Southern: Division One Central |
| Result | Won 7-1 |
| Attendance |
132 |
| Royston Scorers | Scott Bridges (3), Hoenes(3), Mason |
| Crows MoM |
Scott Bridges & Rhys Hoenes |
Yates, May, Scott-Morriss (Brathwaite), Bradshaw, McDevitt, Bridges Scott, Bridges Stuart (Ryan), Towner, Hoenes, Mason, Robins (Castiglione).
Subs not used – Ingrey, Powell.
The visit of basement club North Greenford United to Garden Walk brought a goal fest and a 7-1 victory for the Crows and a harsher critic would argue that it maybe should have been a few more.
This result extended the Crows winning league run to five games and saw them climb into the play-off positions for the first time this season with them currently sitting in fourth place after nine games.
The pattern of the match was mainly home team domination with sporadic breakaways from the Blues with an impressive performance by the visiting goalkeeper – Ricardo Diniz – that certainly kept the eventual score-line to single figures.
The spritely early movement of the Royston frontline of Rob Mason, Rhys Hoenes and Luke Robins caused North Greenford all sorts of problems which Diniz and his defenders were working hard to deal with. However, the visitor’s plight was not helped with the early straight red card dismissal of Orlando Rodrigues on 15 minutes as he was adjudged last man as he hauled back Hoenes who was head down and goal-ward on one of his pacey chases forward.
From the resultant box edge free kick skipper Scott Bridges curled a power shot round the wall and sweetly into the top right hand corner giving Diniz no chance. 1-0.
Tails up the Crows certainly pressed for more but resilience was evident from the Blues and dogged defending and inspired goalkeeping kept their opponents at bay until the 45th minute when a Ryan Towner pass found Hoenes lurking deep left and a cut back run inside led to a confident finish to double the lead to 2-0 at half-time.
The second half saw five more home team goals that gradually, but completely demoralised their opponents leading to a final score-line that their overall dominance suggested.
Three minutes in and the increasingly fit looking and hard to deal with Mason got his goal – latching onto a clever through ball by home debutant full back Danny May and executing a good lob over Diniz, as the stranded keeper rushed out to intercept. 3-0.
Scott Bridges got his second on 61 minutes as again May showed his prowess at defence splitting passes gaining another assist, this time from slightly further up the pitch as his waist high delivery found Bridges arriving fast and a nice running volley directed the ball in with power. 4-0.
A triple substitution for the Crows on the hour mark saw Gus Scott-Morriss, Stuart Bridges and Luke Robins depart the match for Daniel Brathwaite, Joe Ryan and Josh Castiglione to take the field.
A moment of bizarre mayhem ensued on 67 minutes with lack of concentration at the Royston back-line bringing scrabbling confusion leading to a post hit shot then a clear handball, resulting in a Blues penalty that was struck home by North Greenford skipper Jessy Yeboue. 4-1
Disappointed, but undeterred, Royston regrouped to regain their composure and dominance and the speedy forward flowing football brought three more home side goals to ice this performance.
On 77 minutes Bridges got his hat-trick from the penalty spot as Hoenes was fouled. 5-1
On 81 minutes Hoenes got his second following some good work from Mason and his cross ball found the speedy attacker whom finished well. 6-1.
The scoring was completed well into stoppage time with Hoenes also reaching the three goal tally as Toner was lively on the left hand by-line cutting back dangerously for Mason to confuse and Hoenes to tap in. 7-1.
A good days work from the Crows as momentum is definitely with them as they look to continue this good run of league form and move onto an away mid-week encounter with also low lying – but not to be under-estimated – Arlesey on Tuesday.
