Colts on form with high speed end-to-end tussle

Harlow Town Rangers U-14 1 Royston Town Colts 2 A THRILLING fight-back in the second half bagged all three points for Colts and went a long way towards securing their future in the top flight. Harlow started strongly, securing two early corners, and always looked menacing in possession. But the Royston defence responded well, with some fine late interceptions by Ricky Williams and Ryan Ingrey, and the match became a high-speed end-to-end tussle. Dominic Oxenford mounted a superb run, slicing through most of the Rangers defence, but chose to pass rather than shoot. Moments later Roger Skeggs popped up to shoot straight at the keeper. Then a muddle at the other end turned to disaster for the visitors, when they conceded an unnecessary corner and Harlow scrambled the ball over the line. Things looked ominous for Colts as Rangers continued to press forward after the break, but they found an extra gear from somewhere and took the fight back to the hosts. A probing Oxenford free kick saw Skeggs shoot just wide. After a fine save by Tom Monti at the other end, Harry Noades latched on to a good through ball and coolly slotted home the equaliser. Royston then turned on the style, with some high energy linking play that Harlow found hard to counter. Skeggs seemed to be everywhere and nearly found the net with an audacious chip, before putting Royston ahead moments later when he latched onto a free kick and fired home in fine style. Rangers tried to fight back and secured two late corners. But Richard Chapman and the rest of the Colts defence coped well in the face of some robust pressure and Adam Jinkerson managed a late shot on goal for the visitors before the final whistle intervened. If Royston can reproduce this sort of form, a top-half finish is still within reach. Royston Celtic U-14 6 Harlow Town Youth 1 ON A windy Sunday morning Celtic returned to top form with a comprehensive victory over third placed Harlow. Playing with the wind in their favour in the first half Celtic scored their first after 15 minutes when Will Dickerson hit a terrific strike from 20 yards out that went in off the post. Conor Barnard netted four minutes later with a chip over the keeper after a good ball in from Tom Fisk. Barnard scored Celtic's third from the penalty spot after a handball and Lawrenece Shelster then scored his first of the season with a header from a corner. Thirty seconds later Barnard completed his third hat-trick of the season when he curled the ball past the keeper into the top corner. Three minutes after the break Harlow scored what turned out to be their consolation goal with a shot that Lee Cooper could do nothing about. Twenty minutes into the half the Harlow keeper pulled down Barnard who dusted himself off to net from the spot scoring his 24th goal of the season. Cooper was superb throughout the second half in the Celtic goal making several excellent saves whilst the remainder of the Celtic side all played extremely well and could have scored eight or nine by the end of the match.