Royston Town 0 Ruislip Manor 0 THE Crows picked up their 24th Spartan South Midlands League point of the season on Saturday – but there was little in the way of entertainment for the crowd. The 34 paying spectators were given scant value for money, and

Royston Town 0 Ruislip Manor 0

THE Crows picked up their 24th Spartan South Midlands League point of the season on Saturday - but there was little in the way of entertainment for the crowd.

The 34 paying spectators were given scant value for money, and although the visitors probably shaded the match possession-wise, neither side deserved anything more than the point they went home with.

It was Ruislip's second visit of the season to Garden Walk, having knocked the Crows out of the FA Vase, and it was not until injury time in the second half that the Crows genuinely went close to scoring - Carl Edwards seeing a shot saved by Carl Tasker in the Manor goal, after good work from substitute Gregg Jackson.

Not that the visitors emerged from the game with any great credit. They looked a pale imitation of the side who had controlled the Vase tie on their way to a 2-0 win and had hammered the Crows 6-1 in west London.

The home side's offside trap worked well throughout the game, although Chris Henry did fire an early effort over for Manor.

But they were nearly made to pay for relying on it in the 17th minute when Ben Payne appeared to be clearly offside before hitting the bar, with the ball eventually scrambled clear.

Royston's only effort of the first half saw Lee Bates send a 20-yard shot well wide, while Allan Reid followed the previous week's red card with a booking after a late tackle on Steve Hurd.

The crossbar came to Royston's rescue again shortly before the break when Michael Bloss sliced a cross on to his own woodwork.

Any hopes that the game would improve after the break were quickly dispelled as the game returned to its lifeless pattern.

Crows' goalkeeper Chris Chambers fumbled a cross which appeared to drop over the line, but the referee waved play-on.

The introduction of brothers Gregg and Bradley Jackson in place of Bate and Rob Gwynne made little difference to the overall lethargy, although Reid did manage a long range looping effort with 16 minutes remaining.

Edwards' effort three minutes into stoppage time nearly snatched a vital three points for Royston, but it would have been a travesty if either side had won what will surely go down as the dullest game of the season at Garden Walk.

Royston: C Chambers, P Chappell, R Cannon, M Bloss (G Jackson), S Snowden, L Rogers, A Reid, C Edwards, L Bates, R Gwynne (B Jackson), J McMurrough. Unused sub: K Blair.