South Midlands Premier Division Brimsdown Rovers 1 Royston Town 2 ROYSTON made it back to back victories this week with a hard fought win in Enfield on a bitterly cold Wednesday evening. A heavy dusting of snow prior to Royston s arrival was met with the

South Midlands Premier Division

Brimsdown Rovers 1 Royston Town 2

ROYSTON made it back to back victories this week with a hard fought win in Enfield on a bitterly cold Wednesday evening.

A heavy dusting of snow prior to Royston's arrival was met with the news referee Andrews had called the game off but gentle persuasion from both managers helped the official reverse his decision and the game was concluded.

Paul Attfield left Ben Stocker, Carl Edwards and Ricky Young on the bench with Saturday's FA Vase game in mind and was also without injured wide duo Luke Robins and Josh Bronti.

The opening half was a fairly even affair with both teams coming to terms with the snow on the pitch. Whilst the game was played at a committed pace there were a number of mistakes made by both sides and both could have gone into the half time interval with a lead.

Royston 'keeper Jorden Gibson made one outstanding point blank block from a close range volleyed effort and two other presentable chances were put wide of the target. Brimsdown also come the closest in the first half when a long range speculative effort came back into play off the crossbar.

The visitors also had plenty of the ball but probably lacked much creative impetus for the amount of possession they had. Their best two chances of the half fell to Ross Collins and Russell Bull. Collins had an 18-yarder turned behind by the keeper at full stretch and Ryan Lockett crossed for Bull to mis-kick his shot wide from a great position 12 yards out.

The teams went in goalless at the interval and with Attfield wanting more from his side he made a double substitution introducing Edwards and Young for Jamie Morriss and Conor De Lacy but it was the home side who had their best spell of the game in the opening stages of the half.

After some good probing Brimsdown took the lead ten minutes into the half when a whipped in free kick found Rob Dear inside the six yard box and he stopped low to head in.

Royston were clearly struggling to find any momentum and needed a spark to lift their performance which they got when they equalised out of nothing half way through the period.

A right wing cross was not claimed by the home 'keeper and Russell Bull nicked the ball away from his feet before converting from a tight angle.

This moment proved pivotal as it kicked the whole team into life and the fine free flowing football returned that everyone is used to and chances were created in numbers.

Matt Cook had a looping header from a free kick superbly tipped around the post and from another corner David Cain headed against the underside of the crossbar. Lockett and Young had good chances with shots that missed the target and a quick counter attack saw Edwards race clear but the 'keeper did enough to thwart his advances.

In between these chances the winning goal arrived with ten minutes remaining when the best team move of the game down the right channel created an opening for Edwards on the edge of the area and his well placed left footed strike found the top right hand corner to give Royston the three points.

Town manager Attfield commented: "The conditions were hard for the players and generally we lacked any rhythm in our play until Russell got our equaliser. We probably could have scored another three or four in the last 20 minutes but overall just happy to get the game played and gain another good three points."

Royston: Gibson, Endacott, Cook, Cain, Babbage, De Lacy (Edwards), Collins, Malins, Bull, Lockett (Stocker), Morriss (Young). Unused subs: Apostolos, Jones.