The Royston Town manager speaks after his team’s 3-0 victory away at Tring

Tring Athletic 0

Royston Town 3

SSMFL Premier Division

PAUL ATTFIELD was delighted with his team’s response against Tring Athletic on Tuesday night as the Crows went back to the top of the table.

Town have had a mixed bag of results in the last few weeks and Attfield had noted a dip in performance levels which ultimately allowed them to slip to third place at the weekend. However a brace from top-scorer Kaan Fehmi and a strike from Ryan Lockett sealed an impressive win against fellow high-fliers Tring to move back to the summit.

“Tring is always a tough place to go but everything just clicked into place for us,” Attfield told the Royston Crow. “Scoring early helped because we’ve been struggling in the final third lately and the players had been finding it mentally tough. But all the players played well and you don’t become a bad side after a couple of bad results.

“There are 12 games to go and we’ve still got to play AFC Dunstable so it’s going to be tight. But I always thought it would require 100 points to win the league and I don’t think I’m going to be far wrong.

“There are three good teams up there but at the end of the day the league doesn’t lie and the best team will win it.”

The evening did not start great for Attfield at the Grass Roots Stadium as he had a number of players struggling to make the kick-off on time due to traffic problems but a team was selected and the Crows got off to a flier with a goal within two minutes. Lockett picked up a loose ball in midfield an unleashed a firm drive that deceived the ‘keeper and found the bottom corner.

This settled the Royston team who worked hard and looked defensively solid. The hosts become more and more frustrated, gaining little time and space on the ball and largely they reverted to longer balls from defensive positions which were ineffective and decisively dealt with.

The Crows shot down the slope in the second half and with Tring throwing more bodies into attack the visitors found space to exploit.

Attfield made an early second half change with Ross Collins replacing the cautioned Martin Standen but as the half wore on it was evident Royston would extend their lead. This was confirmed midway through the half when a foul 25 yards out gave Kaan Fehmi the opportunity from a free-kick, from which he powered the ball through the wall into the bottom corner.

The scoring was completed with 15 minutes remaining when the same player scored another superb goal. He cut inside the box after wrong-footing two defenders before arrowing a strike into the top corner.

Royston Town: Norris, Clemo, Bradshaw, McGrandles, Beck, Martin Standen (Collins) Edwards, Lockett (Endacott), Matt Standen, Fehmi, Robins (Young).