Kentish Town 1-4 Royston Town

ROYSTON Town came back from a goal down at half time to win 4-1 away at Kentish Town on Saturday.

Crows manager Paul Attfield opted for caution before the match and left John McGrandles on the bench after a knock from Tuesday night’s game and there was a full starting debut for winger Paul Klein who has been progressing well in the reserve side.

While Kentish Town had been hovering around the relegation places for some time and without a win for 18 games, it was an extremely sloppy start from the Crows which encouraged the hosts to apply plenty of early pressure.

The difficult, dusty playing surface was hard for the players to play attractive football on but a substantial period of individual and collective errors made for a forgettable start to the game.

Royston’s best early moments were provided by winger Klein who broke free twice down the right with one cross just eluding team mates and another headed just over by Glen Lamacraft.

However, Kentish were gifted the lead after 12 minutes. Royston fell asleep from a quick throw and a forward did well to turn with the ball just inside the area before being upended by David Cain. The penalty was undisputed and duly dispatched by Maine Essaighi

A lofted diagonal ball from Jack Bradshaw was superbly controlled by Ross Collins but the close range effort was shot wide and moments later a good cross from Danny Apostolos was volleyed goalwards by Klein and whilst his effort was blocked on the line the simple rebound effort from Bobby Dance was somehow blazed over.

Klein broke free on two more occasions and on drawing the keeper both times his squared balls across the face of goal were not reacted to well enough and Lamacraft twice broke free of the home defence, but on each time was thwarted by the ‘keeper.

It took less than two minutes for Royston to level after the break. A neat diagonal ball found Bradshaw making good inroads down the left channel and his well delivered cross was headed in by Ricky Young from 10 yards.

Two minutes later Royston should have had a penalty when Young broke free but despite being hauled to the floor by two tackles the referee shrugged it off to furious protests.

Changes to the team on 65 minutes helped Royston gain even greater control with Martin Standen and Collins being given more forward attacking berths from midfield areas and both contributed greatly to the final scoreline.

The crucial third goal arrived just two minutes after the changes. Not for the first time another ball behind the home defence found the well timed run of Collins who beat the ‘keeper to the ball and guided the ball into the path of Lamacraft who had the simplest of finishes from eight yards.

While Kentish had rarely threatened, Jorden Gibson had one smart diving block to make after a corner had not been cleared but with 15 minutes to go the game was all but wrapped up when Martin Standen raced clear to slot under the ‘keeper’s advance from 16 yards.

A near identical goal followed in the 82nd minute with Standen again beating the offside call and the ball sat up nicely for the midfielder to lob over the stranded ‘keeper from 25 yards.

There were further chances for Klein and Young who were both narrowly off target. The gulf in the final scoreline was most definitely a fair reflection between the two sides over the entirety of the game but this game was definitely won in the hardest way possible by the Crows.

Royston: Gibson, Bradshaw, Apostolos (Edwards), Cain, Endacott, Collins, Martin Standen, Klein, Young, Dance (Grinham), Lamacraft.