| Date | Wednesday 19 September 2012 |
| Match | Canvey Island v Royston Town |
| Competition | FA Youth Cup: First Round Qualifying |
| Result | Lost 4-0 |
| Royston Scorers | – |
| Crows MoM |
Ollie Wheeler |
Royston were knocked out of the FA Youth Cup after a 4-0 defeat at Canvey Island, however although the score line suggests a heavy defeat the young Crows came away with their heads held high.
Royston travelled with no fewer than six regulars missing , goalkeeper Harry Reynolds, Jamie Steele, Dejon Mullings, Tyrell Stratton, Antony Araba and Callum Turner to add to a long list of injuries.
With no goalkeeper, Manager Jorden Gibson welcome debutant loanee goalkeeper Nathan Godfrey from Hitchin Town under 16’s as well as Liam Purkiss and Jake Leighton into the starting line-up. Antony Lane, Conor Malins Dan Broughton and Barnaby Jordan were also brought into the squad.
Royston started the game well and great individual work from Leighton found Jordan Hall to strike home from 18 yards but only to see his speculative effort ruled out for offside.
Canvey enjoyed long spells of pressure and eventually got their first goal when a cross that was not dealt with saw a Canvey striker's shot go past Godfrey. Godfrey was then left shell-shocked when a 30 yard shot fired past him.
Despite the score line, Royston continued to work hard and the midfield of Jake Booth, Joe Maude, Ed Brown and Ollie Wheeler produced some excellent work rate both defensively and offensively.
Moments before the end of the half Royston fail to clear a cross for the Canvey forward to have a simple 12 yard finish into the corner.
HT 3-0
In the second half Royston showed some more fight, continued to work hard and never gave up throughout. Luke Shilton, Matt Brennan Jack Staley and Purkiss all worked hard defensively and when they were breeched Godfrey produced two fine saves. However in the 57th minute Brennan failed to clear a ball on the edge of his six yard area which rebounded off another Canvey forward to score the fourth goal.
Gibson introduced two more debutants in Malins and Lane as well as regular Harry Geir and within two minutes Geir fed Lane through who forced an acrobatic save from the home keeper.
Manager Jorden Gibson commented “Listen, four-nil sounds a bit of a battering and although Canvey were clearly the better team and deserve the result our players never gave up, this was a good window for players coming in who haven’t had as much game time to take it, unfortunately we may have missed a few key players but I can’t say the players out there never gave me the required effort and desire levels because they did. I was proud with the manner they approached the game and proud of everyone's effort.” Gibson continued “Mistakes happened; I say all the time, it’s not a problem, those players will go and learn from them which will make them better players in the long run.”.
Team: Godfrey, Shilton, Brennan(c) Staley, Purkiss, Booth, Brown, Wheeler, Maude, Hall, Leighton
Subs: Geir, Broughton, Malins, Lane, Jordan
