Colts take controversial win

Royston Town Colts U-15 5 Albion Youth 3

A whiff of controversy spiced up proceedings as Royston maintained their promotion push on Sunday with a strong performance.

Royston took an early lead when a fine through ball from Adam Jinkerson found Connor Barnard who fired off an unstoppable shot across the keeper.

The lead almost doubled moments later when Dominic Oxenford broke clean through, but he chose to pass instead of shooting, and the chance went astray.

Colts were again denied by the narrowest of offside decisions, before Ryan Ingrey tormented the visitors' defence with a mixture of skill and strength that culminated in him being brought down inside the box.

Connor Barnard made no mistake with his second textbook penalty in as many weeks but, as half time approached, Albion fought back.

Colts' keeper Tom Monti denied the visitors with a typically brave save at feet, but the lead was pegged back when Royston's defence, rock solid up to that point, failed to close down the Albion strikers.

Albion continued to threaten early in the second half and their efforts were rewarded when Colts made a hash of several opportunities to clear the ball and allowed the visitors to draw level.

But the main effect was to galvanise Colts to greater efforts. Barnard mounted a superb run down the right and this time turned provider, his cross from the byline finding Oxenford who tapped in Royston's third from close range.

From that point Royston did not look back, although a controversial moment of good fortune helped them on their way.

With both strikers jogging back from offside positions the ball was fed through to Oxenford. The assistant's flag shot up but, to the amazement of most onlookers, the referee failed to whistle and Oxenford pressed on towards goal.

He rounded the last defender and chipped the keeper to notch up his second of the match, to the accompaniment of anguished wailing and arm waving from the visiting camp.

More drama followed when Albion again fought back and won a penalty. Monti parried the shot but the striker was first to the rebound to make it 4-3, setting up a tense final quarter.

Monti was again called into action as the visitors broke clear but Colts continued to make the better chances. Roger Skeggs went close before Barnard wrapped things up with a blistering run from midfield and a powerful finish, to bag a well-deserved hat-trick and ensure all three points for Royston.

Baldock Templars U-11 1 Stevenage Town Barca 3

IT IS hard to imagine a scoreline that could less reflect a game of football.

Baldock dominated this match against top of the table Stevenage from the first whistle almost to the last, playing some of their best football of the season. But poor finishing was to cost Baldock as Stevenage made the most of their few chances.

The best move of the game was in the fifth minute. Jordan Massey showing some fine skills on the right wing and delivering a great cross to Connor Gray. Gray laid the ball off to Alex Close, who looked to have scored as the ball headed to the top of the net, but the excellent Stevenage keeper somehow tipped it onto the crossbar and over.

Stevenage's early attacks were easily dealt with by Ryan Savage and man of the match Oliver Foster.

On 20 minutes Gray won the ball in defence and passed to Mark Rogers. Rogers sprinted the length of the pitch and looked certain to score, but a last desperate block forced his shot wide for a corner.

Massey's subsequent corner cleared the Stevenage defence, but somehow George Higginson managed to direct his header over the crossbar.

Three minutes before half-time Stevenage broke and took the lead against the run of play.

Baldock hit back straight after the break, Daniel Nicholson fighting hard to win the ball on the wing. His pressure lead to a poor clearance from Stevenage that fell to Baldock's centre half Corey Rodgers, who hit a cracking shot low into the corner of the net.

Minutes later Connor Doyle hit a similar shot just wide. But as the game moved into the last 15 minutes Baldock were starting to tire, with several players missing with flu and no substitutes available. Stevenage were able to bring on some fresh legs and, despite a couple of great saves from Baldock keeper Alex Taylor, Town hit two goals in as many minutes to take the Crow League points.

BSCFC Blues under-11 5 Melbourn Dynamos Tigers 0

THE Tigers started this fixture with 10 players which resulted in Sam Robinson pulling on the keeper's jersey on his welcome return to the team from illness.

Robinson soon had his gloves warmed up by the attention of the Stortford forward line pulling off fine and often brave saves to halt the hosts.

However the one man deficit saw the Blues capitalise and score after opening up the Tigers' defence.

Cam Douglas, Jack Hammond, Josh Jones and Mathew Davis despite fine efforts, struggled to cover the extra man in defence, however Tommy Froggatt was on hand to clear any loose ball both on the ground and in the air.

After 20 minutes Robinson handed over the goalkeeping duties to Jack Ovens and moved out into defence giving the Tigers more of an even chance.

The second half was as scrappy as the first half mainly due to the sticky pitch and the amount of excess mud carried on the players boots.

The adverse conditions did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm and work rate of the excellent Clyde Thompson who coped well with the physical side of the Blues' midfield and also managed to cover most of the pitch in his efforts for the Tigers left midfield, he along with Robinson often managed to stop the Blues attacking moves in their tracks.

A bright spell for the Tigers saw Tom Lee, Brennan Friel and Adam Breeze make some progress down the right hand side of the pitch without any end result as the strong Blues defence held out for a clean sheet.

Further Blues goals could not be prevented, taking their tally to five. The versatile and hard working Sam Robinson was the well-deserved recipient of the Tigers man-of-the-match.

Royston Celtic U-9 A 1 Melbourn Dynamoes A 2

CELTIC were unable to build on last week's fine win against Ashwell, which had seen them end their unbeaten record.

The opening few minutes saw an early goal from Melbourn and this sealed the fate of the home team.

The teams battled in windy conditions but Celtic was unable to overcome the defence of the visitors to make an impact on the game.

The second half saw another goal from Melbourn and Celtic seemed dejected but they fought on and their efforts were rewarded by a goal from Ollie Green which was crossed from Lorcan George.

Royston Celtic U-9 B 1 Melbourn Dynamoes B 1

STRONG winds and bad pitch conditions seemed to hamper both teams, and the B team's game looked set to follow the A team's with a goal from the visitors in the first half.

The second half saw a great run from Robbie Filby who looked set to equalise the game as he crossed to Ethan Lewis but unfortunately his shot at goal went wide.

It looked like defeat for the home team but a late substitution in the last few minutes of the match saw Tom McGlynn come on and he brought the score level with a goal in the final seconds.

Bassingbourn Youth U-10 A 0 Sawbridgeworth Juniors A 4

BASSINGBOURN hosted Sawbridgeworth in their first game of the New Year at the weekend, but a poor second half saw them sink to a 4-0 defeat.

Sawbridgeworth pressed from the start but James Fox and Matthew Lovejoy worked hard to keep the visitors out. When they did get through, they found home keeper Gio Tamburello in fine form, producing some excellent saves.

Sawbridgeworth's patience paid off when they broke through and scored.

Hard work from Tom Holcroft, Corin Pearce, Ben Robson and Jack Norcross failed to penetrate the defence and the first half as Sawbo' went in 1-0 up at the break.

After the break Tony Aresti came on for Corin Pearce and James Smith replaced Jack Norcross. However, fresh legs were unable to break Sawbridgeworth, who eventually scored 3 more goals to win the game.

Bassingbourn Youth U-10 B 2 Sawbridgeworth Juniors B 0

THE B team picked up where they left off prior to the Christmas break, with a convincing 2-0 win at the weekend.

It was Bassingbourn who made the early break through when a cross was deflected by a Sawbridgeworth defender into his own goal.

Tough tackling and tireless effort from Sean Smith gave Bassingbourn another chance, which Sean Cook fired home.

After the break, Bassingbourn were in control and rarely under pressure. When Sawbridgeworth did attack, Jonno Roope and Karyna Manuel were on hand to thwart any danger.

- Bassingbourn Youth under-eight came out on top in two close games against local rivals Melbourn Dynamos.

In the first game Bassingbourn took the lead when a long range shot from James Sharp flew into the top of the net.

A second from Adam Fleming meant Bass' went in at half-time two up and well on top. Early in the second half Melbourn got one back with a free kick from the edge of the box which spurred a Dynamos revival.

Two further goals for Melbourn meant Bass were now 3-2 down and looking rattled. Showing good character Bassingbourn fought back and a second from Fleming brought the scores level.

With both sides looking for a winner Charlie Oughton in the Bassingbourn goal saved well before Jo Gunn-Roberts struck home to give Bass a well deserved 4-3 win.

In the second game Bassingbourn dominated play in the first half but could not beat the Melbourn keeper, despite hitting a post with a long range effort.

A reshuffle in the second half made the Bass attack look more likely to score and Matthew Gwynn broke the deadlock tucking in a cross from the wing. James Ashton capped a strong performance by returning a goal kick past the goalkeeper from long range to make the final score 2-0 to Bassingbourn.