Royston Town extended their current unbeaten league run to six and home undefeated streak to eight games thanks to Chris Watters’ second-half penalty on Saturday.

It was a drab and ponderous affair for the spectators to endure, but as manager Steve Castle has declared, he feels it is all about the result at this stage of the season.

This win places Royston in fifth position in the division and current incumbents of the final play-off spot.

That is now three clean sheets in a row and some forward momentum for Royston.

With eight games to go, the Crows are in the mix for the end of season mini-knockout tournament, but the teams around them have games in hand and may usurp Royston despite their best efforts.

On top of that, the Garden Walk side are still yet to play three teams, Hanwell Town, Rugby Town and Barton Rovers, that sandwich them in the table, so there could yet be more twists and turns before Royston know their end-of-season fate.

Consequently, there is a fair amount of work to be done and they negotiated this Egham test with consummate professionalism.

The visitors had won the reverse fixture earlier in the season, albeit with a slightly different squad and coming up against the Crows in poor form and a sub-standard performance on the day.

In this one, Watters 66th-minute spot kick, following an unnecessary foul on substitute Reece Dobson, was as much as they needed against the dogged, but ultimately lacklustre Surrey side.

Cutting inside, Dobson was unceremoniously chopped down and Watters despatched the ball perfectly into the left bottom corner, giving Jamie Norris in the Sarnies’ goal no chance.

The teams cancelled each other out for the majority of this match and chances on goal were few and far between.

The passing and link up play was poor and once again, the final third section of the pitch saw limited quality.

Scott Bridges, returning from a four-match suspension, had a competent game in midfield, backing up his brother Stuart well and the latter was subsequently named the sponsors’ man of the match.

Castle’s men travel to Marlow this Saturday, trying to keep this terrific run going, while hoping their promotion rivals drop points in the final furlong.