Freeman hits brace in win

Royston 3 Stevenage II 1 THREE goals from Royston, was enough to see off the challenge of Stevenage at the weekend. For the second week running Royston were by far the stronger side, and took the lead when Dan Smith drove past the Stevenage defence, slipping the ball to Nick Freeman who slotted the ball into an open net. The visitors managed a couple of counter attacks, but the Royston defence held firm. Royston's domination continued into the second half, and it was not long before Freeman scored his second. Although Stevenage managed to win some short corners, the home side stopped them getting any shots on goal. This led the way for a series of Royston attacks, which resulted in them having a goal disallowed. Soon after, Royston went three up, with a goal from Smith. Towards the end of the match a lack of concentration from the Royston defence allowed Stevenage a consolation goal, but the final result was never in doubt. Shefford and Sandy 1 Royston II 1 THE visitors let themselves down this weekend by failing to keep their width and formation on the pitch in the early part of the game, which resulted in a draw against Shefford. Royston played abysmally for the first 10 minutes and were lucky to hold their nerve under some early pressure from the home team, and only rallied when an injury gave them the opportunity to regroup and consolidate their approach. Shortly after this, Royston were rewarded when player of the match Ali Carroll took the ball from outside the attacking quarter and pushed through the Shefford defence to flick in a classy goal. The away side knew they would have to work hard to maintain this lead after half time, and they battled well and played some great hockey with many shots on target. Royston lost their lead to a scrappy goal from Shefford and, despite trying hard to regain their momentum, they were unable to reply with another goal. Royston need to focus again next week to keep their form as contenders for promotion Royston IV 1 Winchmore and Enfield 1 ROYSTON had to fight very hard for a point in this top of the table clash. The home team started very well and should have had the Game won before the visitors got going. Winchmore had a good spell midway through the first half but honours were even at half time. Early in the second half the visitors took the lead and it was only good defence from Clive Biddlecombe and good goalkeeping from Phil O'Donnell that prevented Royston from going further behind. The home team showed tremendous spirit, refusing to be beaten and fought back creating many chances before Keith Markham forced home an equaliser from close range.