Royston lost ground at the top of the Southern League Premier Division Central as they fell to a 2-1 defeat against Tamworth at Garden Walk.

The away side - who sat third in the league - took an early lead when Tyrell Waite took advantage of a defensive error to tuck home the opener on 17 minutes.

But, Scott Bridges got the Crows level on 35 minutes when his deflected free-kick beat Jasbir Singh in the visitor's goal.

Josh Castiglione hit the post with a diving header early in the second-half for Royston, but Tamworth found the winner on the hour mark when Aaron Forde struck from close range.

The defeat means the Crows drop to ninth in the table, but they have games in hand over the teams above them.

Royston boss Steve Castle was disappointed with the result, saying: "On chances created, we both had very few, but the difference was that Tamworth dispatched theirs and we paid the price by squandering ours.

"Recently, we have not really hit the heights of our immediate start to the season.

"There have been injuries and they do disrupt things, but it shouldn't be to the extent that we drop points.

"This was a must-win game to keep us right up there, contending at the top.

"However, I think at this moment I do need to give the opposition credit for their performance, it wasn't outstanding but they were clinical when they had to be.

"Even with this defeat, we can still classify our start as reasonably good."

Royston are back in action on Saturday afternoon when they host Beaconsfield in the FA Cup and despite it putting them further behind in the league, Castle's keen to do well in the cup.

"We have a massive game next Saturday against Beaconsfield Town in the FA Cup," said Castle.

"Obviously, this means that it will put us even more behind in the league but , equally, it will be good to progress as far in the Cup competitions as possible."