Date	Saturday 13th October 2012
Match	Burnham v Royston Town
Competition	Evo-Stik League Southern: Central Division One
Result	Drew 1-1
Royston Scorers	K Fehmi
Man of Match	Kaan Fehmi

It was a frustrating afternoon for the players and management of Royston Town at The Gore, the home of Burnham FC. Before the game it could be said that a point would have been a good result against The Blues who stood at third in the table but after seeing the home team reduced to nine men late in the first half The Crows must ultimately be disappointed with the final score.

Due to injuries and suspensions, Duncan Easley and Martin Paine were short of first choice defenders and put together a make-shift back line up with Sam Spencer moving to centre-half  and skipper Ross Collins stepping into the left-back position.

 

The game started at a high tempo and Royston surged forward in the first minute with the referee missing a cast-iron penalty for The Crows for handball in the first minute. Burnham responded with a good move up the left with their final shot being blasted over the bar. This was the format of the first twenty minutes as Royston strived to play their controlled possession football but lacking any real shots on goal, with the home side breaking quickly only to see their own efforts going over the bar or by the post. On ten minutes a good Ryan Ingrey header was blocked and Luke Robins’ follow up shot was well saved by Michael Watkins in the Blues’ goal. Kaan Fehmi was putting in a good shift despite carrying an injury and his hold up play brought Royston a bit more time around the box enabling Ryan Lockett to link up with the attackers well. In the first half the finishing in front of goal was poor from both sides despite good chances being created at both ends. On 43 minutes a lunging tackle by Collins was judged by the referee to be worthy of a penalty to Burnham and the Blues’ strikers reacted violently giving the referee no choice but to send off Lewis Driver and Aaron Gooch for the home side, booking Matt Standen in the same incident. To make matters worse for Burnham, Ryan Bird smashed the resulting spot-kick yards over the bar. In the last minute of the first half Taylor Parr put in a firm header that was tipped over well by Watkins and the first period finished goalless.

 

The teams emerged from the dressing rooms with possibly different agendas for the second half as with Burnham being two men down Royston could smell three points and the hosts would probably have been happy with a draw. The Crows started  on the front foot and pushed forward but carelessly left themselves open at the back and Will Norris was forced into making a fine save from a snap shot by Bird from a  long ball forward. Bird made no mistake on 50 minutes when a miss-kicked clearance looped up and the striker volleyed home this time giving Norris no chance. Again Royston pushed forward, patiently trying to build attacks with the nine man home side toiling to break them up and block any resulting shots. Royston got an equaliser from a penalty on 57 minutes with a low shot being driven in that the Blues’ defender made a hash up by crouching low to block with his chest with the ball hitting his arm. Fehmi stepped up confidently to power home the spot kick to restore parity. Josh Bronti was brought on for Carl Edwards to add some more forward momentum adopting a 3-2-3-2 formation and Royston could at this time smell victory. The impressive, but tiring Fehmi was replaced by Bull on 72 minutes and the Royston tactics seemed to go more aerial. The last 15 minutes saw wave after wave of Crow attacks but still no real penetration in front of goal. The best chance fell to Matt Standen on 90 minutes but unlike against Leighton Town in the week, Standen put the resulting chance over the bar from three yards when the chance for glory beckoned. Burnham had a late penalty shout turned down and the resulting Royston breakaway saw Luke Robins’ shot go wide.

 

No doubt this was an entertaining and eventful game for the neutral fan but Royston must look on this game that with the player number advantage for 45 minutes of the match, this was probably two points dropped rather than one point gained.

 

Norris, Parr, Bradshaw, Spencer, Collins (c), Edwards (Bronti), Lockett, Ingrey, Standen, Robins, Fehmi (Bull).