Royston 1 Waltham Forest 3 ROYSTON were left disappointed once again, as another closely fought match ended with a loss. A mix of Forest starting brightly and Royston barely able to shift out of first gear saw the visitors dominate the opening stages and

Royston 1 Waltham Forest 3

ROYSTON were left disappointed once again, as another closely fought match ended with a loss.

A mix of Forest starting brightly and Royston barely able to shift out of first gear saw the visitors dominate the opening stages and score twice in quick succession.

The hosts then began to find their form and after a short scrappy period began to control the majority of the play.

Royston got a goal back from a short corner strike by Nick Ross, and looked to quickly equalize.

Hitting the back of the net, however, has been an issue for the hosts so far this season, and once again plenty of good scoring opportunities were squandered.

The second half was more even with both sides sharing possession and even after going down to 10 men when Dave Barker got sent to the sin-bin, the equaliser and even an eventual winner always felt in touch.

This, however, was not to be with Forest sealing the victory late in the game with a third goal.

Royston II 3 Blueharts IV 3

IN a tough first 20 minutes Royston played well but created few chances.

Into the break they were 2-0 down but heads didn't drop and they came out in the second half fighting.

A series of quick passing between Duncan Warner and Mark Jacobs led to Nick Freeman scoring, and Royston then had a sustained set of short corners which led to two further goals.

One broke to Chris Welding and the second was crisply dispatched by Nick Broadley.

With 10 minutes to spare the opposition got one back and both teams held on for the draw.

Royston III 3 Southgate Adelaide II 1

ROYSTON IIIs began the match brightly, taking the lead when a short corner routine saw Tim Yow feed the ball wide right to Paul Visagie who beat a man to get himself some space and then flicked in over the 'keeper's pads.

The lead was doubled from a further short corner, this time Stephen Gourd slipping the ball right to Yow whose powerful drive was too strong for the Adelaide 'keeper and a defender on the goal line.

The Crows were three ahead before half time when left winger Adam Mackenzie set off on a 40 yard dribble, culminating in a channel pass that Gourd swept in at the near post.

After the break the hosts continued to control territory and possession, and they creaeted numerous chances but found the visitors' 'keeper in inspired form.

Adelaide, who had begun the day in third place in the table, got a consolation goal inside the last five minutes from a short corner.

It was a mark of Royston's dominance on the day that this was the visitors only shot of the entire match.

Royston IV 2 West Herts V 4

THE match against West Herts started with both sides competing equally.

After 15 minutes West Herts scored their first goal from open play but Royston responded well and a few minutes later scored from a well worked short corner.

The ball was hit out to Paul Bloomfield who slipped the ball left to Nigel Phillips to score.

Royston then proceeded to score again when Ed Wainwright-Lee broke free and flicked the ball past the advancing 'keeper.

Royston then made the mistake of relaxing slightly which resulted in West Herts scoring their second from open play.

In fact two goals had been scored in two minutes, and the score remained level for the rest of the half.

After half time Royston seemed unable to link any significant passes together and began to play more and more speculative balls.

This gave more and more possession to the opposition who were able to increase the pressure and managed to score two more goals, both from open play towards the end of the match.

The home side were unlucky not to increase their lead right at the end when the Royston goalkeeper Dan Orme save a penalty flick.

The match finished 4-2 to West Herts who were the better side on the day.

Royston V 0 West Herts VI 2

ROYSTON'S youth side succumbed to a fairly narrow league defeat against a well organised West Herts team.

A single defensive error in the first half and a superbly taken goal in the second half ended up being the difference between the sides.

Royston started very slowly in the first half, but excellent tackling and marking from both man-of-the-match Bailey Farmer and Josh Hughes meant that the home team's chances were limited.

Superb defending from Jackson and Stewart in the second half, coupled with good attacking play from Hughes linking with Whitaker, continued Royston's never-say-die attitude, even though 2-0 down.

Royston's best chance cam in the last two minutes of the game when John Collins pounced on a chance in the opposition D only to shoot just wide.