Rebels too strong for Crows on Saturday

Slough Town 3

Royston Town 1

Evo-Stik Southern Central Division

THE CROWS’ seven-match winning streak was halted Saturday afternoon courtesy of three gifted goals giving The Rebels of Slough an early Christmas present of three points.

After an impeccably held minute’s silence in memory of a Slough Town supporter, the Rebels were with a cause as they attacked from the off. In the third minute a Slough attack down Royston’s left flank caused panic in the defence but the ball was eventually blasted over the crossbar by the dangerous Danny Burnell.

Royston did not heed the warning and two minutes later their defence was left aghast as the Slough No 10 ghosted into the area and struck a shot that was superbly saved by Will Norris.

The Crows then countered and the Slough shot-stopper was called to make a world class save from Ross Collins on 10 minutes.

As the game went on, the Crows looked stronger and brought a double save from Slough stopper Warrington on 29 minutes. The Crows should really have made these opportunities count and they were duly punished against the run of play on 37 minutes when a shoddy pass from Spencer gave the Rebels a corner and from this Nathan Bowden-Haase smashed home the opener.

The second half saw Slough come storming out of the blocks and after yet another poor pass from a Royston player causing the defence to foul Ed Smith on the edge of the area, Stuart Swift slammed home the resulting free-kick.

At this point there was only one team in the match with Slough pouring forward at every opportunity. This was resisted by some magnificent defending by Jack Bradshaw and Joe De La Salle. Royston tried to create chances but the long ball tactics proved futile.

After a double substitution with Kaan Fehmi and Wilson replacing Lewis Endacott and Carl Edwards, the Crows pushed forward. And it reaped its rewards almost straight away as Fehmi’s deflected effort on 68 minutes reduced the deficit.

This was as good as it got for the Crows, though, as two minutes later after yet another poor back-pass from a Crows player the impressive Ed Smith eased past the Bradshaw and his shot gave Norris no chance.

The last throw of the dice saw Tommy Malins replace Matt Standen on 75 minutes but this was too late in the game and the Rebels held on for a deserved win that saw the Crows drop to second place in the league table.

Royston Town: Norris, Parr, Endacott (Wilson), De La Salle, Bradshaw, Collins, Edwards (Fehmi), Spencer, Lockett, Standen (Malins), Robins.

Attendance: 234