Royston Town manager looks forward to Saturday’s match against Hertford

CROWS boss Paul Attfield says it’s crucial Royston maintain the pressure on the teams below them in the race for promotion.

Royston are top of the Spartan South Midlands Premier Division having won 13 of their 15 matches so far, and Attfield knows first-hand how difficult it is to chase down a team who lead the way from the off.

“Chalfont St Peter proved last year that when you get the points on the board early on it puts the other teams in a very pressurised situation,” Attfield told the Royston Crow.

“Incidentally enough I think we were 14 points behind Chalfont at this stage last season and Dunstable are 12 points behind us now [with three games in hand]. It’s difficult when you’re playing catch-up so it’s important that we keep the pressure on the other teams now we’re in that pole position.”

Royston began the defence of their Floodlit Cup with a hard-fought 2-1 win away at Herts County League Premier Division side Wormley Rovers on Tuesday night, and the manner of the win enforced Attfield’s underlying view that his team have lost a bit of spark in recent weeks.

They host Hertford Town at Garden Walk this Saturday, and the Royston manager says it’s important his team start making life easier for themselves – especially at home.

“Hertford will give us a decent game as they’ve got new management and a few new players,” added Attfield.

“I’m just a little bit concerned at the moment that we’ve been having to grind out results [a bit too often], and we’ve lost a little bit of sustained fluency in our game, apart from the home win against Hillingdon.

“That might be to do with being forced to change the team every week but going forward we just need to find a bit more rhythm and quality for sustained periods.

“But it’s not a massive concern because we’ve been winning games, but you can only grind out so many games. We’ve got to find fluency, especially at home, and if we can get through this month unscathed we’ll be in a dominant position.”

Attfield should reinstate top scorer Kaan Fehmi, pictured above, to the starting line-up this weekend, along with Martin Standen and John McGrandles who were on the bench on Tuesday night.

Hertford are currently fourth bottom of the league and have only won three of their 14 matches so far this season. Those victories came at home to Berkhamsted and London Tigers on Saturday, and away at Broxbourne Borough.

Kick-off is at 3pm.