Royston Suffer Opening Day Setback
By Tom Brown Bedford 4 Royston Town 0 OUT muscled and out performed, Royston suffered opening day misery going down to a physical Bedford FC. It was not the start, boss Phil Snowden had hoped for as his club look to bounce back to the South Midlands
By Tom Brown
Bedford 4 Royston Town 0
OUT muscled and out performed, Royston suffered opening day misery going down to a physical Bedford FC.
It was not the start, boss Phil Snowden had hoped for as his club look to bounce back to the South Midlands Premier, but with 10 first team regulars missing it was always going to be a tough first game of the season.
And despite an encouraging start, Royston found themselves trailing after captain Stuart Snowden gave away a controversial penalty that was slotted home by Graham Randall on 34 minutes.
The hosts doubled their lead moments into the second half after the Crows defence was caught napping when a defensive mix-up led to a fantastic Luigi Rocco strike after 59 minutes.
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Chris Huckle made it three with 15 minutes to go, when he capitalised on another defensive lapse after some good work down the right flank. Three goals behind, Royston tried hard to snatch a consolation with both Dave McMurrough and Graham Tibbals going close.
However, as the Crows pushed forward, Bedford continued to break with Rocco scoring his second with another well-placed finish on the 85th minute mark.
Royston Town chairman Graham Phillips said: "Bedford deserved the three points, but a 4-0 win certainly flatters their performance. They were strong and very physical, and as we are quite a small side we struggled.
"For some reason we kept playing long balls forward - a tactic that was never going to work against such a powerful side. We created a few chances and had a goal disallowed for some reason, but apart from that the players never really got going.
"With the injuries, Phil had to play a few of the youngsters and I thought that they did ok, with Pete Chappell and Brett Perkiss playing particularly well. They have a lot of potential and I'm sure when they find their feet in the hurly burly of first team football they will do well.
"Hopefully, we'll have a few more players available for the next game and go from there."
N Royston entertain Hoddesdon Town, who beat Sport London e Benfica 1-0, tomorrow night (Tuesday) at 7.45pm for their first league home game of the season.
Royston Town: Scott; Chappell, Snowden, Bloss, Gywnne; Perkiss, Rogers, Nash, Jackson; Tibbals, McMurrough. (Subs): Blair, Hampson, Lewis
