Excellent Crows thrash Colney Heath

ROYSTON TOWN produced one of their best performances of the season so far on Saturday as they convincingly beat in-form Colney Heath at Garden Walk.

The visitors came into the match in second place but they were no match for the Crows as first half goals from Bobby Dance, Glen Lamacraft and Martin Standen put the game beyond doubt before Paul Klein added the gloss five minutes before the end.

From the very start of the game Royston tore into the Colney side all over the pitch playing some decisively good football on a rock hard pitch.

On top of the recent long injury list Ryan Lockett was included as an extra name with a hamstring strain from Tuesday night’s game at Oxhey Jets but on a much brighter note there was an inclusion of forward Matt Standen back into the squad after a two month absence.

Credit must go to Paul Attfield’s squad who, despite being stretched to the limit, have still only been beaten once in their last nine games.

All the goals were created by set plays delivered by captain Ross Collins which Colney never got to grips with.

In just the fourth minute a free kick was only half punched to the edge of the area by the ‘keeper with Bobby Dance side stepping a defender’s lunge and crashing a sublime strike through a crowded box and into the corner of the net.

Colney reacted well and had their best period of the game during the next 10 minutes or so when they put pressure on the home penalty area.

In fairness, the Royston defence and midfield were more than determined to deal with this and centre halves David Cain and John McGrandles were particulary impressive and in open play the visitors were left to feed off scraps in the area with the goal well protected.

They did create their best and only real chance in the 11th minute from a corner when the ball missed everyone and fell to a Colney player on the far corner of the area whose shot was well tipped onto the post by Horden Gibson.

With Colney committing bodies forward in attack they often left themselves open on the counter attack Ricky Young worked tirelessly up front causing plenty of uncomfortable moments in the visiting defence.

It was Young that won the free kick that led to a second goal in the 22nd minute. The visitors conceded a needless corner and Collins’ delivery was headed against the crossbar by McGrandles before Lamacraft slammed home the rebound from close range.

Royston went onto dominate the entirety of the game from then on. The visitors began to look jaded in their play and a third goal looked continually likely and it duly arrived in the 37th minute.

Another Collins corner was well delivered to the far post where Martin Standen sent a bullet header into the net from eight yards. It was a goal his performance deserved as the midfielder put in an excellent shift.

If a second half backlash was expected from the visitors it never materialised and Royston continued to control the game and create chances. Both full-backs had three opportunities to extend the lead with Lewis Endacott firing over from 10 yards after a powerful run into the box while Jack Bradshaw twice curled 20-yard efforts from identical positions towards goal with one narrowly missing the far post and the other being superbly tipped wide.

The home efforts were rewarded with a fourth goal with five minutes remaining when Klein ran onto a throw in that had been missed by a defender and he finished well with a rising drive from a tight angle inside the keeper’s far post.

Royston closed the gap on their opponents to three points while they have two games in hand.

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