Barnard treble seals cup win

Baldock Town Crusaders U-15 0 Royston Town Colts 4

COLTS booked their place in the semi finals of the League Cup thanks to four second- half strikes, including yet another hat-trick from top scorer Conor Barnard.

The final score disguised the fact that Colts struggled to assert their superiority in the early stages.

Perhaps it was the expectation of an easy outing against third division opposition, perhaps it was the near gale force crosswind, but the first half was a frustrating affair for Royston, as Baldock displayed a lot of determination and some neat touches.

Harry Noades, Ryan Ingrey and Barnard all showed some excellent flashes of skill and created chances for the visitors, but the scores remained level at the break.

With the wind strengthening Colts needed an early break in the second half and to the relief of the travelling supporters it came within a couple of minutes.

Barnard mounted a superb run that cut a swathe through the Baldock defence and loosed off a shot that struck the upright and rolled into the net.

Minutes later Royston had a two goal cushion, a long kick from keeper Tom Monti finding the net via an Adam Jinkerson pass and a blistering Barnard shot.

Shortly afterwards the prolific striker had his treble, his shot set up this time by the sweetest of layoffs from the influential Noades in midfield.

And that was very nearly that, until with seconds remaining, a corner was cut back to Dominic Oxenford, who slid the ball across the goalmouth and into the bottom left hand corner for Royston's fourth.

Hatfield Youth Yellows U-10 0 Royston Town Colts A 3

ROYSTON grabbed six points at the weekend with a double header against Hatfield Youth, playing at home on Saturday and scoring Hatfield and winning 3-0.

The game on Saturday saw goals come from defence, midfield and attack in a excellent all round team performance.

Richard Jonas opened Colts' account after four minutes when he slotted home a rebound from a Reece King shot that was deflected into his path.

Jake Long scored Colts' second after Jonas played a pass down the line and he then went round the keeper to slot the ball home with ease.

King then scored a tap in after Long had crossed the ball. A few moments later he then won a penalty after being tripped in the box and Jordan Campbell scored from the spot with ease.

King then scored his second after another cross from Long when he headed past the despairing keeper.

The sixth goal was the best of the game when Jonas won the ball and moved it quickly inside to Matthew Stout, with two touches Stout then slotted the ball at the perfect angle for Long to run onto just inside the box and his first time strike saw the ball fly into the back of the net giving the keeper no chance.

King picked up his hat-trick when he passed the ball out wide to Jonas he struck the ball superbly to bring a great save from the keeper, King was on hand to clean up to take his hat-trick.

Sunday saw a more resolute performance from Hatfield, although as in Saturdays game Jonas opened the scoring with a great run from right back to strike after a few minutes.

Long scored later in the half to make it 2-0 and Jonas claimed a second midway through the second half to wrap the points up.

These two wins saw Colts increase there lead at the top to eight points with two games in hand on second place Baldock and nine points on third place Bedwell who have played the same amount of games.

Hatfield Youth Greens U-10 B Royston Town Colts 2

COLTS B team also claimed six points over the two games after two hard-fought encounters. Saturday's game was all even by the end of the first half although Colts controlled the game well.

Two second half goals the first fortuitous saw Bradley Sell knock a ball through to Jack Freeman and he eventually put the ball in the net.

The second goal was pure class as George Wheeler-Bailey jinked his way around a couple of Hatfield players and struck the ball superbly from just outside the box to see it curl into the top right corner of the net.

In contrast, on Sunday Colts were 2-0 down by half time and looked like the day before had sapped the energy as they were second best to the ball.

The second half started much better and they had were creating chances but it seemed that it was not to be as they hit the post, had shots cleared off the line and were composure was needed to take some easy chances there was none.

However, with three minutes remaining and the pressure being applied to the Hatfield defence Colts grabbed a lifeline when Jack Pearce slotted home from close range to give Colts a glimmer of hope for a draw.

This had the adrenalin pumping through the visitors and Jack Freeman let fly from outside the box through a number of Hatfield defenders to see it nestle n the back of the net.

The momentum was now totally in Colts favour and they threw everyone forward as they could taste the win.

The ball broke out from the Hatfield defence and Mitch Harness collected the ball 10 yards outside the box, and he let rip to the delight of all when the ball flew into the net to seal an excellent win.

Sawbridgeworth Blues U-12 2 Royston Town Colts A 3

ROYSTON dug deep and produced their best all-round team performance of the season to secure all three points and a league double over hard-working Blues to keep alive their target of a top three finish.

Royston began brightly, John Middlemass powering onto a loose ball on the edge of Blues box and firing Colts into an early lead.

Playing with the wind, Blues struck back immediately, equalising with an unstoppable long-range effort which gave stand-in keeper Ashley Chapman no chance whatsoever. Further opportunities fell to both teams but the half ended all-square.

Blues struck first after the break, Colts temporarily losing the ball in the sun and paying the price as the home side broke free to slot the ball home past the advancing keeper.

Colts rallied, and with the wind at their backs, began to take the game to their opponents, Conor Saggers, Sam Hunter, Jack Bailey, Max Mclean and Middlemass all firing efforts just wide.

At the back, Colts showed great tenacity and strength, Jordan Hall, in particular, leading a stubborn defensive line alongside Matt Cooney, Harry Stafford and Sam Cooper.

Colts then squared the game, Lucas Sekobawane equalising with a sublime chip over the despairing dive of Blues' keeper to notch his fourteenth of the season.

The visitors were now in the ascendancy, raining chances in on Blues' goalmouth and unlucky not to go ahead after Sekobawane's effort was ruled offside.

Finally, their pressure told. From a McLean corner on the left, Jake Benstead was on-hand to net his third in as many games after his initial shot had struck the bar.

As the minutes ticked away, Blues regrouped and attacked, forcing a brilliant finger-tip save from Ashley Chapman from a rare break through the middle.

The visitors' hearts were in mouths as Blues then had a goal ruled out for foul play, Colts weathering the storm and holding on superbly to claim a well-deserved away win.

Colts: A Chapman, M Cooney, J Hall, H Stafford, S Cooper, S Hunter, J Benstead(c), J Bailey, M McLean, J Middlemass, C Saggers (L Sekobawane)