Royston Town boss Steve Castle says it’s ‘time to shine’ Crows squad as they lose star-men ahead of Thame United FA Trophy clash.

Towering centre-forward Adam Murray and experienced centre-back Ben Martin will be unavailable for two vital games, Saturday’s Thame clash and next week’s Kettering Town game.

Martin was injured and Murray sent-off in the Crow’s frustrating 0-0 draw with Halesowen Town on Saturday - the first league game Royston hadn’t won at Garden Walk in more than two months.

Speaking to CrowSport, Crows boss Castle said: “It’s a worry for us, the Trophy game is very important.

“We’ll need to use the strong bench we’ve got and make some adjustments. It’s the rest of the squad’s time to shine.

“There’s got to be others who step up to the plate.

“We’re at home so Thame have got to come to us. We just need to take the emphasis away from the fact they’re at a lower level and approach it like a league game, with as much concentration.”

There were dismissals for both sides in the Evo-Stik Southern League Central game, with the first coming after 30 minutes for the visitors.

Lee Hughes lunged in with a horror tackle on Martin, leaving the former St Albans City powerhouse writhing in pain before being replaced by Callum Ellesley.

The Crows had the man advantage and dominated, but struggled to capitalise before losing it in the 58th minute.

Another poor tackle came in from Halesowen, and Murray retaliated, before seeing red.

Royston had chances but couldn’t finish, completing a costly and disappointing afternoon.

Castle added: “The challenge on Ben was scandalous.

“The officials at this level like to even things up and Adam is a fantastic player but he’s got a short fuse and he’s got to learn to control it. You can’t do what he did, and he gave the referee the opportunity to send him off.

“We’ve got to take it as a compliment that teams are coming to us and shutting up shop.

“In those games the first goal is vital and our finishing wasn’t good enough. We should have got three points.”

The Crows now sit third in the league, having only lost once in eight matches.