Old Streetonians 29 Royston 0 Injury-ravaged Royston slipped to their first defeat of the season and came away from ­Hackney Marsh with nothing. Key players Jamie Deards and Dan Fox both pulled out before kick off, so winger Chris Ball valiantly stepped

Old Streetonians 29 Royston 0

Injury-ravaged Royston slipped to their first defeat of the season and came away from ­Hackney Marsh with nothing.

Key players Jamie Deards and Dan Fox both pulled out before kick off, so winger Chris Ball valiantly stepped in to play at scrum half.

But it took only 10 minutes for the hosts to breach the Crows' line, with Jack Hoile's heroic tackling in vain as the Streets attacked in ­numbers and powered over the line.

The home side then went over for two more tries with the game effectively won before half- time.

Some great defending by Steve Clay and Shaun McDermott stemmed the tide somewhat in the second half, with Rob Turner steadying the ship at the scrum.

In fact Royston showed great character and for 10 minutes the Crows set up camp on Streets' line.

However, having made their replacements Fox was forced off the field through injury and as a result Royston had to battle on with 14 men.

The Streets piled on the pressure and scored two more tries, with the latter coming after a well executed move from the scrum.

Head coach Luke Green said: "This result was nothing more than a blip on the chart.

"The lads know exactly what they did right and wrong, and I know that they will work hard to correct that.

"They flogged their guts out and for that I'm very proud. Sometimes in these situations teams can go to sleep and suffer a real ­drubbing - but these lads would never let that happen.