FOUR goals by Graham Tibballs demolished Bedford on Tuesday evening and booked Royston s place in the quarter finals of the South Midlands Division One Cup. Paul Attfield again showed his intentions towards cup competitions by completely changing the star

FOUR goals by Graham Tibballs demolished Bedford on Tuesday evening and booked Royston's place in the quarter finals of the South Midlands Division One Cup

Paul Attfield again showed his intentions towards cup competitions by completely changing the starting eleven which had convincingly beaten league rivals Hatfield 4-0 on Saturday.

Only centre back Michael Debnam, left back Jan Stephens and midfielder Greg Jackson survived and the rest of the team was made up of current reserve and youth team players.

But once again the scoreline just undermined the strength in depth at Attfield's disposal.

It was a particularly entertaining first half with Royston scoring five and conceding their first goal in five games.

After a frantic opening 15 minutes Royston scored their first of the game when Tibballs turned in a Josh Bronti cross from close range and the Crows began to settle into the game.

The pace of Tibballs, Bronti, Ricky Young and Jamie Morriss was far too much for the home rearguard to handle and Tibballs bagged a second soon after with his neat turn and strike from 18 yards found the bottom corner.

By the half hour mark it was 3-0 to the visitors with Greg Jackson bulleting home a header from Morriss' corner and Ricky Young smashed home a fourth five minutes later from close range.

Sandwiched between those two goals was a headed consolation for the home side from a free kick but Tibballs had the last laugh of the half when he finished off his hat trick.

The second half was less eventful than the first, with the home side showing more determination and attacking intent which kept Royston's defence on their toes.

Bedford got their second of the game midway through the half again with a headed goal, but Tibballs' 16 yard lob over the keeper with ten minutes to go finished off the game and capped off another impressive Royston performance.

Royston will now take on Buckinghamshire side Winslow United at home in the quarter finals.

Speaking about his team's performance, manager Paul Attfield said: "It really is good to see a large number of players come into the first team squad, most of who have had little activity at first team level this season.

"Again our side was very young, but it was remarkably talented and the enthusiasm and drive that was on show was testament to the quality we have throughout the club just now.

"Some of our attacking play in the first half was as good as I've seen this season and is a reminder of the talent in depth we have."

Team: Barlow, Apostolos, Stephens (C Morriss), Debnam, Bloss (S Jackson), Shaughnessy, G Jackson (Crosk), Bronti, Young, Tibballs, J Morriss. Unused subs: Malins, Endacott.