Royston get ready for Saturday’s visit of Aylesbury United to Garden Walk

PAUL Attfield admits he was disappointed his team couldn’t replicate their excellent league form during Sunday’s FA Cup defeat against Romford.

The Crows went into the tie on the back of a 100 per cent start to the league campaign, and Attfield said he was confident his team would have more than enough quality to overcome their Ryman Division One North opponents. It wasn’t to be, though, and in the end they went down 3-2 against the better team on the day.

“We never really got going,” admitted the Royston Town boss. “It took us 60 minutes to get going and into our stride but by then we had given ourselves a lot to do.

“We got out of jail a little bit with the 1-1 scoreline at half time but all the goals we conceded were from individual mistakes and we shot ourselves in the foot.

“I went and saw them play last week and as a team they would hold their own in our league, but on the day we just couldn’t find our pattern of play that we’d shown in the previous league games. We put ourselves under unnecessary pressure, but before the match I was confident we could win.”

Royston were denied the opportunity to get back to winning ways on Tuesday night, when their league match away at Hatfield Town was postponed due to The Blueboys having an FA Cup replay against Essex Senior League side, Enfield.

But although Attfield says he and his players would have liked the opportunity to bounce back from Sunday’s defeat just two days later, he insists the postponement means he has more time to get injured players back fit before Saturday’s clash with Aylesbury United at Garden Walk.

He said: “When you’ve had a defeat you want to get back as soon as possible but it now gives us a chance to get three or four players back that wouldn’t have been ready for Tuesday night.”

Winger Tom Malins and striker Kaan Fehmi, who were both injured during last week’s win over St Margaretsbury, are in contention for a return this weekend while Rhys Lawrence and Ashley Grinham both look like being involved against Aylesbury.

Attfield will also be boosted by the return of centre-half John McGrandles after a holiday.

Saturday’s visitors have had a similarly good start to the season as Royston – winning four of their opening five matches – but Attfield insists it will have to take a very good performance from United to beat his in-form team.

He added: “They are a big side, and they gave us a tough match in our second fixture against them last season but our home form is good. We need to learn from Sunday’s defeat but it’s going to take a good side to beat us.”