Royston Town Reserves 1 AFC Dunstable Reserves 1 A DETERMINED second half display saw Royston take a deserved point from this game, and move into third position in the table. In a tough encounter it was the visitors who set about the game from the

Royston Town Reserves 1 AFC Dunstable Reserves 1

A DETERMINED second half display saw Royston take a deserved point from this game, and move into third position in the table.

In a tough encounter it was the visitors who set about the game from the start with a physical approach that initially seemed to upset the home side, who struggled to get to grips with a confident Dunstable.

Royston then suffered a double blow when the visitors took the lead with close range effort, and then lost centre back Laurence Revell to a nasty facial injury which landed him to hospital.

Royston then reshaped, and were fortunate not to finish the half further behind with a visiting striker, despite being pushed wide managed to roll his shot wide of the open goal.

The second period then saw the hosts start to get a grip on the game, and their superior fitness appeared to be reaping rewards, youngster Joe McCormack in particular getting forward at every opportunity.

Meanwhile the now settled Royston back four and keeper looked well capable of taking care of any visiting attack.

Making their two final changes saw Royston move into a more attacking mode, Richard Lowden now being the thorn in Dunstable's right hand side.

The equaliser when it came, came from a fine move down the right, with a good early cross being swept home by Kieran Butler to give Town a share of the spoils.

Royston Town A 3 Braughing 1

THE CROWS continued with their fine form with an impressive victory over near neighbours Braughing.

Despite fielding a side containing some of the current youth side Royston dominated from the start, with the impressive Ben Cooper being a constant thorn in the side of the visitors from the first whistle.

Lee Bates fired the Crows into a seventh minute lead, taking a Kenny Blair pass into his stride a pushing the ball wide of the advancing keeper.

Braughing levelled in the 20th minute as the home defence were caught napping from a deep centre.

The Braughing goalie made three excellent saves, but could do nothing with Royston and Bates' second goal when he hammered home a rising powerful drive and was again on hand to claim his hat-trick with a carbon copy of the first goal.

The second period of play saw both teams play some attractive football but with no goals to show from their endeavour.

This result leaves Town at the top of the league with several of the opposing sides having played a game more.

Elsworth Sports 3 Steeple Morden 5

STEEPLE returned to the top of BIS Division 3A with a stunning 5-3 victory at previously undefeated Elsworth.

Manager Kenny Watters fielded an unchanged starting 11 and they rewarded his faith with an explosive start, taking the lead after only three minutes. Nick Carlton latched onto a poorly cleared corner, made space for himself and fired a shot high into the roof of the net from just outside the box.

The visitors soon increased their advantage, Ben Holt found himself one on one with the advancing keeper and had the composure to slide the ball low and hard into the goal to score for the 11th consecutive game.

The home side were a little shell shocked to be 2-0 down after only eight minutes but dug in and forced their way back into the game by playing some good fast paced football, and with only five minutes to go to half time they were back on level terms.

Steeple did not let their heads drop however, and showed their commitment by forcing a third goal just before the break when Charlie Prothero smashed home a left footed shoot from close range.

Midway through the second half Steeple increased their advantage further, in somewhat fortuitous circumstances.

A long throw from centre back Andy Smith caused panic in the Elsworth six-yard box and in a vain effort to clear the danger a home defender only managed to divert the ball into his own net.

Man-of-the-match Martin Holt was a constant menace to the home side and delivered some probing crosses before Roy Dunsford completed the scoring for Steeple Morden.

He appeared to be boxed in at the corner flag but took on his marker, and a second defender before firing low into the bottom corner of the goal.

Steeple looked to be cruising at 5-2 but were punished by a third goal from the home side.

With a fourth disallowed for offside the nerves of the Steeple Morden staff were being tested but the visitors hung on for a satisfying victory that keeps the title race wide open.

Steeple Morden Res 3 Duxford Res 3

MORDEN staged a remarkable comeback in a game that by half-time had looked beyond them.

It was a difficult first period for Morden, kicking into a strong wind they found themselves chasing the game with the visitors cruising into a 2-0 lead by the break, both goals of the highest quality.

Things did not get any easier when immediately after the restart Morden failed to clear the danger and Duxford punished them further.

David Sarll and Bob Dix were introduced into the fray to give Morden a little more bite in midfield and this bought immediate reward.

First Sarll headed home a Keiran Smith corner and then a few minutes later tucked the ball under the keeper following a melee in the goalmouth.

Morden could sense an equaliser and with Dix's pace on the right the visitors found themselves having to defend deep. With 15 minutes remaining the scores were level, Jo Morris driving the ball through the crowd following another Smith corner.

Jason Clark worked tirelessly for Morden and produced his best performance to date. Duxford had a chance to steal the points late on but the forward, in acres of space, inexplicably fired over from close range and the spoils were shared.