Evo-Stik Central League Div 1

Royston Town 4

Uxbridge 2

KAAN Fehmi scored two and set one up in a Man of the Match display, helping Royston Town to a solid 4-2 home victory against Uxbridge on Saturday.

Following a series of three uninspiring draws the Crows put together a more positive performance to give caretaker managers, Duncan Easley and Martin Paine, their first victory. However, their pre-match plans were again changed as they saw defender Lewis Endacott break his nose in the warm-up forcing them to once again re-jig the back-line moving Sam Spencer into defence from midfield.

The first five minutes were nervous and error strewn as both sides looked over anxious. The home side nerves were soothed on 12 minutes when a pin-point low cross from Fehmi was met with a side-footed volley by Luke Robins from eight yards to evade the Uxbridge keeper, Matt Elston-Bull, and saw the Crow’s take the lead.

Royston settled into a better rhythm and Taylor Parr surged forward confidently to put a shot just by the post. A defensive lapse on 22 minutes saw a Uxbridge free-kick not dealt with and Rob Fitzgerald was left with an easy tap in to bring the scores level.

Undeterred, Royston pushed on again and three minutes later Uxbridge found themselves reduced to 10 men as Kevin Warner was shown a straight red card having been adjudged to commit a last man foul on Robins on the edge of the box.

The resulting free-kick from Fehmi looked to have been blocked with a handball but this was not seen by the officials.

On 31 minutes the home side regained the lead with skipper Ross Collins cleverly beating the offside trap and sending in a good low cross for the alert Fehmi to knock in. Royston continued to create the better chances with good efforts by Fehmi and Ryan Ingrey and the sometimes over eager Crows found themselves caught offside more than once.

Another Uxbridge free-kick on 42 minutes caused more defensive confusion and the resulting Chris Moore shot took a wicked late deflection that left Will Norris flat-footed and meant the score was level at 2-2 at half-time.

The second half saw Royston in the ascendancy and with the Crows management calling for a higher tempo to the play an early attack forced a corner that Ingrey headed just wide and a run and cross by Jack Bradshaw saw Robins put a snap-shot just by the post.

Seven minutes into the second half and Fehmi seized the day and his strong solo run eluded an Uxbridge challenge and he slotted home a low drive across the keeper for a 3-2 lead.

There then followed the Crows’ best period of football as the midfield trio of Collins, Ingrey and Carl Edwards toiled to maintain control of this match. The tiring Fehmi was replaced by Tom Malins on 70 minutes which maintained a good level of energy in the forward movement and the game was put beyond Uxbridge in the 77th minute when a Bradshaw shot was half-blocked and Ingrey reacted first and a quick spin and low shot saw the ball beat Elston-Bull to complete the scoring at 4-2.

Overall a it was a better all round Royston performance to gain some small revenge for the earlier defeat by Uxbridge in the FA Trophy and to give the Crows confidence going into the next home league match against North Greenford United tonight (Tuesday, 7.45pm).

Royston Town: Norris, Parr, Bradshaw, DeLaSalle, Spencer, Collins (c), Edwards, Standen, Fehmi (Malins), Ingrey, Robins (Lockett).