ROYSTON TOWN FC v ST IVES TOWN FC
Saturday 9th October 2021
A ruthless display of finishing by Royston saw them brush aside St Ives in a somewhat one-sided encounter at Westwood Road on Saturday.
A lively opening saw both goalkeepers make good early saves, as well-struck efforts from Ed Asafu-Adjaye and Michael Richens were tipped away. However, home stopper Paul White could do nothing about Brandon Adams low 20-yard strike that was arrowed into the bottom corner in the 21st minute to give the Crows the lead.
The lead was doubled in the 38th minute as Harry Draper headed in an in-swinging James Brighton corner from close range to put the away side 2 goals ahead at the break.
Any hopes of a home team comeback were quickly squashed, as 3 goals in the opening 18 minutes of the second half saw a rampant Royston capitalise on the home team’s poor defending. Adams helped himself to his second goal in the 48th minute as persistent wing play from Josh Williams saw him outfox the home defence, before seeing his shot blocked that fell kindly to Adams to finish.
Adams quickly completed his hat-trick, latching onto substitute Matt Batemans’s flick-on, before advancing to confidently slide the ball beyond White. Bateman himself scored the fifth as he capitalised on White’s hesitancy to shut the keeper down, with his resultant block hitting the underside of the bar and falling just over the goal line.
The Saints response to this 3-goal salvo was a goal of their own, as one minute later Nabil Shariff latched onto Ed Hotter’s defence-splitting ball, before rounding Joe Welch and finishing.
With the game ended as a contest, Royston continued to control proceedings and ended up putting the icing on the cake with 2 late goals. In the 88th minute, Bateman scored his second of the afternoon, picking up a loose ball and firing home a curling effort from 30 yards, leaving White rooted to the spot, before Adam’s added his fourth of the afternoon in stoppage time, as he emphatically finished from close range after more good wing play from Williams.
Royston: 1-Welch, 7-Titchmarsh, 14-Brighton, 5-Murray A ©, 20-Newton, 4-Bridges, 19-Mentis (6-Henry 43), 2-Asafu-Adjaye, 9-Adams, 8-Draper (10-Bateman 49), 11-Galliford (17-Williams 39)
Unused: 3-Brathwaite, 15-Brown
MOM – Brandon Adams
| ROYSTON TOWN | ST IVES TOWN | |
| 12 | EFFORTS ON TARGET | 4 |
| 6 | EFFORTS OFF TARGET | 3 |
| 5 | BLOCKED SHOTS | 3 |
| 10 | FREE KICKS AWARDED | 11 |
| 3 | CORNERS | 5 |
| 4 | YELLOW CARDS | 1 |
| 0 | RED CARDS | 0 |
