Royston Town boss Steve Castle listed last Tuesday’s 1-0 home league defeat to Uxbridge as “a low moment of the season.”

Matt Woods’ first-half strike was enough to hand the lowly visitors victory and keep the Crows looking for a first league win for over a month - their last coming via 5-1 win at North Greenford United at the start of November.

That run may go beyond the weekend as Castle takes his seventh-placed Royston side to league leaders Kettering Town on Saturday, and he is justifiably hoping for a better performance than in midweek.

Castle told the Crow: “We are all very disappointed after such a performance. It was not acceptable.

“We did not use the conditions to our advantage in either half while they did.

“The howling wind, slope and bumpy pitch were not ideal but instead of trying to use that to crack Uxbridge, we let them stay on top after the goal.

“Simply put, we didn’t do enough and I let the lads know that after the game.

“We had a chat in the dressing room and talked a few things over.

“It is an evening where you find it hard to grab a consolation.

“We didn’t score, let in a sloppy goal and generally looked forlorn so we will hope to put that right on Saturday.

“It is not the best way to prepare for a shot at the league leaders though but we know at our best, we can trouble anyone in the league so we won’t be phased.”

Kettering have ironically only lost once at home during this league campaign, also to Uxbridge, so Castle is under no illusions about the task ahead.

Castle continued: “If we judged this game purely on the table then we would lose.

“For us, the table does not look great at the moment and we want to change that as quick as possible.

“We lost to them at home earlier in the season but that does not mean anything on Saturday.

“We have a training session on Thursday which I hope we can use to iron out the creases from Tuesday night and then I will have to make some key decisions about selection.

“Scott Bridges is back for us after suspension and the squad is slowly coming together.

“I hope we can use that to our advantage and get the three points we need.”