Royston Town boss Steve Castle: We shot ourselves in the foot at Stratford

The 3-0 loss at Knights Lane was in complete contrast to the Crows' opening day win over Tamworth and the boss felt it was down to the simple fact of Royston shooting themselves in the foot.

Speaking on the club website he said: "The game of football never ceases to amaze me and not always in a good way.

"We got off to a great start this season with a win against one of the title favourites and followed that with a draw away to Leiston.

"I don’t know what the odds were for us winning at Stratford but I’m pretty sure that we were probably classed as favourites to carry on a positive set of results.

"Obviously, I’ll try to explain what happened but honestly, we just can’t hide from the fact that we were poor on the day.

"There were still some very important moments in the game and we probably had the better chances in a rather poor quality match.

"Even a 1-0 down, we went into the second half feeling that an equaliser was on its way and that we could improve so much more.

"However, we were definitely our own worst enemies in our general play and we gifted Stratford an opportunity to score which they gladly took to make it 2-0.

"There was still a little way to go in the game so we kept pushing but quite simply the football just wasn’t good enough from the undoubted talent that we have in the squad.

"They then had a man sent off for elbowing Adam Murray and it should have acted as a kickstart for us but to compound a thoroughly poor day we conceded a penalty which Stratford scored from.

"I can’t say that Stratford deserved such a win but when you shoot yourselves in the foot so many times then we have to hold our hands up and admit that we weren’t good enough.

"My hope is that we learn and grow from this setback. Never at any stage have you ever heard me say that we aren’t good enough.

"Defeats and performances like this do happen but our task now is to make sure that we respond as quickly as possible."