Royston Town Youth 6 BSCFC Blues 2 This was the week that Blues came, saw but didn t quite conquer. A full squad of 14 Blues turned up full of confidence and determination for what they knew would be a hard battle against a high-scoring Royston team.

Royston Town Youth 6 BSCFC Blues 2

This was the week that Blues came, saw but didn't quite conquer. A full squad of 14 Blues turned up full of confidence and determination for what they knew would be a hard battle against a high-scoring Royston team.

And in spite of playing against the wind in the first half, Blues imposed themselves on the game early on. Playing with assurance and confidence, Blues pretty much ran the first half leaving Royston defending just to stay in the game.

Time and again the magnificent Jordan Sanderson ran the Royston defence ragged, with often only a last ditch tackle preventing Blues from making the breakthrough.

But after approximately 15 minutes Blues made what they thought might be the vital breakthrough. A fine short through pass from Jordan Powles played Sanderson in behind the Royston defence and Sanderson outpaced the backline to find himself one on one with the Royston 'keeper.

Sanderson finished first time with aplomb to put the Blues one up. There followed a period of play where Blues were simply dominating Royston and it was only a combination of poor finishing and desperate but effective defending that stopped Blues running riot.

Nonetheless Blues doubled their lead seven minutes from half time when a quite magnificent long ball from Ben Gannon put Sanderson through again. Sanderson managed to work his way in between two defenders and once again slot the ball confidently past the 'keeper to make it 2-0.

At this stage there was no sign of what was to come. Tommy Baiss did have to make one flying save from a speculative cross shot but at this stage Blues were in total control.

But alas, as is so often the case the period just before half time is the most vulnerable. With less than one minute of play left the Royston left winger managed to work his way down to the byline and pull back a marvellous cross for the on-rushing attacker to reduce the deficit at half time to 2-1.

The half time team talk was positive and everyone was determined not to lose concentration and to maintain a positive approach. But then something totally unforeseen happened.

The strong wind which we had fought against in the first half multiplied in intensity and switched direction. All of a sudden the wind had become the irresistible force helping to drive Blues back into their own half and making it virtually impossible to clear the ball with any distance.

With virtually the first move of the second half Royston created confusion in the Blues defence and after a ping-pong pinball comedy of errors the ball was placed neatly in the back of the net by Royston to draw level.

The next two minutes effectively decided the outcome of the game. Royston's third goal arose from a quite freakish gust of wind that took a speculative lob on a path of its own beyond the despairing Tommy Baiss.

Poor Tommy had no hope of stopping the ball as the wind gave added pace and height to the ball and helped it dip freakishly over Tommy and into the net.

And then from the next attack Blues cleared a dangerous cross for a corner. An admittedly excellent corner then took on the form of an exocet missile when the wind gave it pace and curl to leave the ball entering the net direct from a corner.

Blues' heads seemed to drop then and injury also forced off Ben Gannon and Jordan Sanderson. Royston notched a fifth and then a sixth goal until Blues belatedly retaliated with some tenacious attacking play in the last few moments of the game.

However, when the whistle blew for full time Blues found themselves on the wrong end of a 6-2 defeat.

Royston showed excellent persistence and took full advantage of the freakish wind in the second half, but it was hard not to wonder what might have happened had the game been played in less blustery conditions.

Blues should not feel too disheartened as their first half performance and their second half performance were against both Royston and the wind.

But well played Royston and let's look forward to the next game as a chance to get back on the winning track.