Hill-fated

HILLINGDON 2 ROYSTON TOWN 0 THE Crows' dismal away form continued on Tuesday evening, despite a positive performance at FA Vase semi-finalists Hillingdon. Mark Saggers' side have suffered eight straight defeats on their travels since winning at London Colney in early November. Despite seeing his team again return from an away game empty-handed, Crows chairman Graham Phillips was pleaded with their performance. He said: "We battled well and it was a really good performance. "Hillingdon are a good side and they knocked the ball around well, but I was pleased with how we played." On an excellent surface, made for passing football, Borough took the lead on the half-hour mark when a defence-splitting pass left the visitors appealing for offside. When the linesman failed to raise his flag, the home forward finished clinically past Barry White. The West London side had the ball in the net again shortly before the break, only to see the effort ruled out for pushing. Jez McMurrough and Ryan Cannon both went close to levelling the scores in the second half, with McMurrough seeing his shot cleared off the line. Cannon saw one shot go wide before the home keeper did well to push his drive around a post for a corner. As Royston pushed forward, they were hit on the break nine minutes from time when a misunderstanding between Chris Geldart and White saw Hillingdon net from close range. The Crows will be looking to end their poor away record on Saturday when they travel to an Oxhey Jets side one place below them in 15th spot. They also travel to Potters Bar, on Tuesday night, to face last season's Spartan League champions in the South Midlands Floodlight Cup. Having been promoted to the Southern League, Bar have found it tough going at the higher level, and are bottom of the table, although they still have a good chance of avoiding the drop. Royston: B White, C Geldart, P Chappell, P Lamont, T Galvin (L Bates), S Snowden, M Saunders, L Rogers, R Cannon, D Jeffries (S Bowles), J McMurrough. Unused sub: C Silenti.