Royston manager Phil Snowden says his squad s naivety contributed to Tuesday evenings 6-1 defeat at Welwyn Garden City. He said: Despite what the scoreline suggests, for long spells of the match we played very well. In the opening 20 minutes the team pl

Royston manager Phil Snowden says his squad's naivety contributed to Tuesday evenings 6-1 defeat at Welwyn Garden City.

He said: "Despite what the scoreline suggests, for long spells of the match we played very well. In the opening 20 minutes the team played some of the best football I have seen all season.

"However, it was a case of sloppy defending and naivety on our part. We gave away two penalties and failed to pick up in the box. It's a shame, because it ends a decent run for us."

The midweek encounter started promisingly for Snowden's men, with 18-year-old Lee Bates putting them ahead with his first goal for the club, after a five-man move and cross from the wing found the young striker in the box.

After the goal, Royston created a number of chances but on each occasion failed to find the target, with one glorious chance falling to the feet of Jez McMurrough.

But their hard work and attacking stance, was pushed back when keeper Chris Chambers conceded a controversial penalty.

An error that was followed moments later with another penalty after Stuart Snowden was judged to have fouled in the box.

"The penalties affected the way we played and then we conceded four sloppy goals, that should have been dealt with," said Snowden.

"Welwyn are a strong side with a lot of experience and the match certainly showed that our young team has a lot to learn.

"We have a lot of very skilful players, but we seem to be lacking players who can take charge of a game."

Despite the heavy defeat, Snowden believes there were a lot of positives to be taken.

He said: "There were a lot of things that we can take from the game.

"We dominated a good side for long spells and created some clear chances.

"And if those early chances had gone in, then I feel it would have been a different outcome.

"We have already started building for the future and over the last couple of games we've had eight players 21 and under involved in the squad.