Royston 4 Welwyn Garden City 0 A THIRD clean sheet in four games helped Royston climb to the top of the league following their victory over Welwyn. Looking sharp from the offset, the hosts dominated the entire first half and scored early on from a slick s

Royston 4 Welwyn Garden City 0

A THIRD clean sheet in four games helped Royston climb to the top of the league following their victory over Welwyn.

Looking sharp from the offset, the hosts dominated the entire first half and scored early on from a slick short corner fired in by Dave Barker.

Welwyn put up little resistance to the Royston attack and found themselves further behind when the outstanding Sam Polge got his name on the score sheet.

The home side continued to spray the ball around with a confidence which proved to be well founded as they saw Owen Russell and Ralf Louwers extend the lead.

Welwyn came out in the second half much stronger but the Crows took the opportunity to prove why they have the best defensive record in the league and held their opponents at bay.

Royston's keeper Chris Markham was again only called upon just once in the match, making a save from a short corner.

Royston 4 Cambridge South 3

AN astonishing fight back saw Royston firsts go through to the third round of the HG Vase.

The Crows fielded a strong but changed line up with Matt Allsopp, Stephen Priest, Mike Welding and Duncan Warner all coming into the side, but the team looked disjointed from the off.

Royston were unable to string two passes together and Cambridge South took good advantage of this by taking the lead early in the half and adding two more by half time.

Royston began the second half with the intention of improving every element of their game and the hope of an unlikely come back was sparked when Ralf Louwers slotted in a short corner.

A goal from Welding made it 3-2 and Royston's equaliser came five minutes from time when Owen Russell slid the ball past the oncoming keeper.

The match went into Golden Goal extra time and Cambridge could have sealed the victory via a counter attack, but they saw an excellent chance go wide of the post.

The hosts however had the final say as James Yarrow fired in an excellent short corner to win them the game.

Royston II 6 Blueharts V 0

DARREN Hicks grabbed five goals as the Crow's demolished Blueharts V.

The return of Clive Biddlecombe at sweeper gave the home defence a much more balanced and settled feel which in turn gave the midfield and forwards confidence to go forward.

But with Nick Freeman, Chris Watson and Nick Hooton unavailable this week the question was where were the goals going to come from?

Hicks stepped up to centre forward and bagged 5 goals, and a sixth came from Mike Welding from a clever short corner routine.

This win sets the seconds up nicely for their inter-club clash with Royston thirds next week.

Royston Ladies 0 Letchworth IV 4

FINE goalkeeping from Tash Ball restricted an experienced Letchworth side to just four goals in this local derby.

Royston played well with a great deal of young players in the side, but in the end Letchworth's experience counted.

Letchworth Ladies III 1 Royston Ladies II 3

ROYSTON won their successive match with an impressive 3-1 victory over Letchworth.

Their opponents started brightly and within 10 minutes were ahead, having had an earlier goal disallowed for a foot inside the D.

Royston hit back by putting Letchworth under pressure and were duly rewarded when a shot from Clare Perry was turned in by Louise Arnold to leave the scores level at half time.

Royston came out more positive in the second half and Sarah Farmer scored their second goal with a powerful first strike.

Lucy Davidson then secured the victory for Royston after dribbling the ball from the half-way line to the top of the D to score in the bottom left corner.