Holmer Green 1 Royston Town 3

ROYSTON TOWN rounded off a fine week with their fourth win in eight days at Holmer Green on Saturday.

The difficulty of rotating a squad and keeping everyone fresh with so many games in a week has been Paul Attfield’s headache so far this season and he would have been thrilled with the four positive results his players have delivered.

Josh Bronti, Ryan Lockett and Tom Malins strikes were enough to give Attfield’s side the three points.

There were a few defensive problems for the Crow’s boss with David Cain, Lewis Endacott and the long-term absentee Nick Mulvaney all out but a slight re-shuffle showed no signs of having an adverse effect.

Despite lots of visiting pressure much of the build-up play often failed to result in clear-cut openings. Holmer, to their, credit did defend well but their need to defend in numbers often left them short in attack and they created little to ever realistically affect the final score.

Pressure built as the game developed and Royston took a 17th minute lead when good work down the right between Bronti and Tom Whitaker created space in the box for Lockett who side-stepped a defender and cracked a shot into the roof of the net.

The pace of Royston’s game invited some late challenges that brought three home cautions and another was shown by the referee when a forward deliberately handled the ball into the net from a corner.

Another home corner brought their only chance of the half when a defender headed over from six yards unmarked when he should really of done better.

The attacks continued to arrive and Ashley Grinham went close with a header while Malins also went close with a slightly miscued lob over the Holmer ‘keeper.

The second goal arrived in first half stoppage time when Bronti smashed home a superb volley from 12 yards.

The Crows didn’t quite find the same fluency in the opening stages of the second half as they did the first and they conceded a poor goal in the 53rd minute.

However, Royston were soon back on top and soon scored the killer third goal.

Captain Ross Collins switched the play well to release Malins who ran clear to slot calmly under the ‘keeper.

The introduction of Luke Robins and Ricky Young caused persistent problems in the latter stages while Glen Lamacraft looked solid in midfield. With a little more care from good situations Royston could have won by a more emphatic margin but it was another encouraging showing from the team.

Royston: Robinson, Whitaker, Grinham, McDevitt, McElvoy, Collins, Edwards (Lamacraft), Bronti (Young), Dance (Robins), Lockett, Malins.