High-flying Colney Heath up next for Crows

ROYSTON Town manager Paul Attfield was pleased his depleted squad managed to earn all three points away at Oxhey Jets on Tuesday night.

Goals from Martin Standen and Glen Lamacraft gave Royston a 2-1 win at a misty Boundary Stadium.

The Crows have been ravaged by injuries in recent weeks, adding to a extensive list of long-term casualties that continues to grow after Ryan Lockett was forced to withdraw from the match with hamstring trouble.

In-form full-back Jack Bradshaw will also face a suspension after being sent off for two bookable offences.

Matt Standen, Rhys Lawrence, Tom Malins, Nick Mulvaney, Ashley Grinham, Tom Whitaker and Luke Howard have all been sidelined, forcing Attfield to play a number of players out of position on a number of occasions this season.

“You look at the bench and it’s very limited,” said Attfield.

“In particular we’re struggling for wide players as we have an abundance of central midfielders and defenders which means we can lack a bit of width at times.

“Players are playing out of position but they’re doing well. Ross Collins, Glen Lamacraft as well as others have been moved around and they don’t particularly like it, but they don’t look out of place and they just get on with it.”

Attfield was pleased with his team’s resolve against Jets and believes they probably deserved the win on the balance of play.

He added: “I thought we did well considering it was our third game in six days. It was a pretty non-eventful first half but we had a really good 20 minute spell at the start of the second.

“As it turned out Oxhey scored their goal in that period but we did well to get the second goal.

“We’re just doing enough at the moment. I haven’t been able to rotate the team much but we’ve only lost one match in five so we’re doing ok.”

Royston take on second-placed Colney Heath at Garden Walk this Saturday in a match that should prove a stern test for Attfield’s limited resources.

Colney have been in excellent form for most of the season, winning 24 of their last 30 matches. They also beat Royston 2-1 in the reverse fixture at the beginning of January and Attfield says his team will have to prepare themselves for a physical battle.

He said: “Colney Heath are nothing special from a football point of view (but) they are very physical and they know how to win games.”

The match is scheduled to kick off at 3pm.