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Royston Town 3 Stourbridge 2 - Match Highlights & Report

Royston Town 3 Stourbridge 2 - Match Highlights & Report

Nigel Gregg28 Mar 2019 - 21:00
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Some match highlights of Saturday's 2 - 3 defeat at Royston Town are now available to view on YOUTUBE courtesy of Royston Town TV (READ ON)

The link to view the highlights on YOUTUBE is - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7pU9DmFc-Q

Note - You may hear some strong language whilst viewing the footage.

Royston Town 3 Stourbridge 2

The Glassboys saw any lingering hopes of landing the league title effectively ended after they fell to a fourth successive away loss. The visitors shot themselves in the foot in the last ten minutes after working hard to overcome a two-goal half-time deficit to get back on level terms during the second period. For the second time this season loanee Tom Knowles netted a late winner to send Stourbridge crashing to defeat having also hit the stunning stoppage time free-kick winner for Kettering at Amblecote back in January.

Stourbridge were making their first visit to the Garden Walk home of Royston Town and boss Gary Hackett named an unchanged starting eleven after a 4 – 1 win over Redditch seven days earlier. New loan signing Zak Lilly was named amongst the substitutes with Luke Benbow and Darryl Westlake still ruled out through injury.

Royston were on the front foot in the early exchanges and Stourbridge had an early escape when a Paul McCone header rebounded off Adam Murray into the path of James Potton, however Stuart Pierpoint made a well-timed block to avert the danger.

Stourbridge quickly replied with Greg Mills receiving a throw-in from Jordaan Brown on the left and he turned on the corner of the box and got away a shot that Harry Smart comfortably saved.

In the 15th minute Mills struck a free-kick from 30 yards that Smart saved above his head on the line and Mills was in the thick of the action again four minutes later with the ball down the left flank for Kaiman Anderson to chase. The Stourbridge forward then took on his marker and turned a pass back inside to Mills but he shot straight at Smart.

Royston responded on 20 minutes as Knowles took down the ball superbly and the on-loan winger from Cambridge United threaded a neat pass through looking for the run of Potton who couldn’t quite bring the ball under control and it rolled away from him.

The North Hertfordshire hosts grabbed the lead with 24 minutes played. A free-kick from the left was headed away by Pierpoint at the near post area towards the back of the box where the ball bounced around before Murray nodded the ball into the path of Potton and his low teasing centre from the right-hand side of the box into the six-yard box wasn’t cut out properly and Eren Kinali was able to fire home.

Stourbridge looked to hit back and on 28 minutes Mills and Brown combined down the left before Mills advanced into the side of the box and crossed low towards Anderson who saw his flick gathered by Smart.

As half-time approached Mills twice threatened the Royston goal. His first effort came when he received a tidy pass from Callum Powell, but his shot was blocked by Gus Scott-Morriss, however he quickly regained possession and this time he curled a shot beyond the far post.

Two minutes into stoppage time though Stourbridge fell further behind. Joe Newton clipped a ball forward and Murray brought the ball down under control and held off Pierpoint before drilling a low shot past Wren to give the Crows a two-goal cushion.

Half-time Royston Town 2 Stourbridge 0

Eight minutes into the second period George Forsyth laid a short pass inside to Forde and he beat two players before hitting a low 20-yard that was safely held by Smart and shortly afterwards he blazed another shot over from a similar position.

In the 58th minute Callum Powell came off injured with Robert Thompson-Brown taking his place and the substitute played his part as the visitors began to assert themselves, although Forde picked up a yellow card after 63 minutes for a poor tackle on Luke Knight.

Stourbridge pulled a goal back on 65 minutes when McCone played a diagonal ball out wide for Thompson-Brown to collect and he then linked up well with Forde with the latter taking a back-heel in his stride before supplying a low cross from the right-hand side of the area for Brad Birch to steer home in the middle.

The visitors had a let-off soon afterwards though when Newton played a free-kick from just outside the right-hand side of the box low into the near post area where it appeared that Pierpoint sent his attempted clearance against his own crossbar.

The momentum though was otherwise with the Glassboys as the home defence came under increasing pressure. In the 73rd minute a cross from Forsyth was headed out towards the edge of the area where Forde let fly with a strike that flew narrowly wide of Smart’s right-hand upright.

Six minutes later, however, Stourbridge restored parity. A clearance from Wren was controlled by Mills out on the left and he then drove towards the box before slipping a short pass across to Forde and he produced a measured low finish into the bottom corner of the net.

The good work was undone two minutes later though when Forde reacted to the close attentions of Knowles by slinging him to the floor and he received his second caution of the afternoon to leave Stourbridge a man light for the closing stages and halt their dominance of the play.

Leon Broadhurst was introduced for Mills with four minutes remaining, but two minutes later the Glassboys conceded a penalty to hand Royston the chance to re-take the lead. Stuart Pierpoint was looking to clear the ball following a Royston corner, however the alert Murray got his body in-front first and was caught by the Stourbridge defender in the process to be upended. Knowles stepped forward and confidently despatched his spot-kick high into the top corner of the net.

In a frenetic finale including four minutes of stoppage time Aaron Hayden picked up a yellow card for a foul before Zak Lilly came on for his debut in place of Pierpoint. James Wren came up for a last gasp free-kick and he got his head on the ball at the far post, however it drifted wide of the target and shortly afterwards the final whistle sounded, and Stourbridge were left to rue those last ten minutes when they let it slip away.

Stourbridge – Wren, Hayden, Brown, McCone, Pierpoint, Forde, Powell, Birch, Anderson, Forsyth, Mills

Subs – Thompson-Brown (for Powell 58 mins), Broadhurst (for Mills 86 mins), Lilly (for Pierpoint 90 mins), Christophorou, Maher (not used)

Sent-off – Forde

Booked – Hayden

Attendance – 300.

Further reading