Royston Celtic Greens 1 Elsenham Youth 1 Under-12s Division Four AFTER the overnight rain the pitch was on the heavy side and conditions were not helped by a cold blustery wind. There were a few minutes of inconclusive play mostly on the left Celtic flank

Royston Celtic Greens 1 Elsenham Youth 1

Under-12s Division Four

AFTER the overnight rain the pitch was on the heavy side and conditions were not helped by a cold blustery wind.

There were a few minutes of inconclusive play mostly on the left Celtic flank whilst the teams got used to the conditions and then Elsenham got in the first shot on goal which went wide after four minutes followed immediately by an attack at the other end.

The teams were fairly evenly matched and neither was able to impose themselves until the Celtic defence faltered for a moment and allowed an Elsenham forward to break through in the 20th minute and strike a good shot into the Celtic net.

Celtic fought back and just four minutes later the Elsenham defence went missing and failed to clear from the latest home attack and Callum Goodall showed determination to pounce on the loose ball to level the score.

The following few minutes saw the home side step up the pressure when Robbie Filby broke clear on the right to put in a good cross and Filby followed up with a good pass through the middle to set up another chance.

Elsenham had time to mount one more attack and it took a good intervention from Ethan Lewis to foil the threat on the left flank whilst Jordan Cooney also gave a strong showing in defence in both halves.

The second half saw the visitors open strongly and put in a shot which went wide in the first minute then Celtic hit back with a corner in the second.

Jack Ison came on at right back and stood up strongly in the tackle when the visitors attacked down the left.

Clearly Elsenham were not going to fold easily and they very nearly took the lead when they mounted a strong attack which culminated in a shot hitting the post and then Ryan Judge made a superb double save followed by a scramble for the ball which the Celtic 'keeper firmly and bravely grasped when it seemed almost certain that Elsenham would score.

After that scare Celtic had more of the play and went close when Matthew Foley won the ball in midfield, typical of his strong performance throughout, and fired a shot at the visitors' goal.

The home side mounted several consecutive attacks with Faheem Jeewoth linking well up front and Brandon Hargreaves threatening on the left flank supported by Charlie Edwards who also had a speedy winger to defend against.

When the latter inevitably got caught up in the attack Tom McGee covered well showing a fine turn of speed on one occasion to do so and was also a calming influence on the defence.

On 25 minutes Celtic looked as though they would almost certainly score but the Elsenham 'keeper pulled off a superb save and towards the end Celtic attacked with even more vigour boosted by the reappearance of Ian Kuenzi and with Danny Mynott looking dangerous in a more central attacking position.

However, that winning goal would just not come and Celtic dropped their first points in six matches.

Team manager Wayne Hargreaves thought that a few players had an off day and that their normal passing game did not really get going.

Royston Celtic Greens: Judge, Lewis, Cooney, McGee, Edwards, Mynott, Filby, Foley, Ian Kuenzi, Goodall, Hargreaves. Subs: Jeewoth, Ison.