Date	Saturday 2nd September 2017
Match	Royston Town v Dunstable Town
Competition	Emirates FA Cup: 1st Qualifying Round
Result	Won 2-0
Attendance	234
Royston Scorers	Marriott, Vasey
Crows MoM	Gus Scott-Morriss

Royston progressed through to the next round of the FA Cup in a game that they ultimately made hard work of winning. 

Royston completely dominated the first half during which time they should really have put the tie to bed. As early as the 7th minute Ryan Ingrey saw his header well saved by visiting stopper Garry Malone. From the resulting corner a well worked routine created space for James Potton but his shot ended up wide of the target. Potton had another chance shortly afterwards, but his low shot was well turned around by Malone. 

Royston’s dominance was rewarded in the 25th minute when Dan Brathwaite’s accurate long ball picked out Gus Scott-Morriss whose controlled pull back gave Adam Marriott the easy task of opening his Crow’s account with a low close-range finish. 

Royston continued to stroke the ball around and thought that they had added to their lead when Brathwaite rose to head home a corner but much to the crowds surprise the ref blew for an infringement. 

Shortly afterwards Dunstable’s task became harder as a straight red card was brandished to Brandy Makuendi for a late challenge on Brathwaite. 

This made no change to the pattern of play as Royston twice went close in the final stages of the half as Scott Bridges and Ingrey failed to force the ball home following a scramble and Marriott saw his header hit the underside of the bar and land on the line before bouncing out. 

The second half started with Dunstable starting brightly and twice Joe Welch had to be at his best to repel the visiting forwards. Royston continued to probe but did not control the game as well as they had in the first half and it took until the 83rd minute for them to make the tie safe, as subs Josh Catiglione and Jack Vasey combined, with Vasey calmly going round the keeper to strike home the decisive goal. 

In injury time Bridges should have added a third but blazed over and then Royston were reduced to 10 men as John Frendo was given a straight red card to take some of the gloss off of the Royston performance. 

 

Royston: 1-Welch, 2-Asafu-Adjaye, 3-Chappell, 4-Bridges, Scott (c), 5-Murray, 6-Brathwaite (17-Castiglione 50), 7-Scott-Morriss, 8-Bridges, Stuart, 9-Ingrey (15-Vasey 75), 10-Marriott (16-Frendo 64), 11-Potton 

Unused: 12-Nolan, 14- Powell, 18-Alomenu, GK-Tewkesbury 

ROYSTON TOWN		DUNSTABLE TOWN
7	EFFORTS ON TARGET	3
10	EFFORTS OFF TARGET	4
4	BLOCKED SHOTS	5
7	FREE KICKS AWARDED	18
7	CORNERS	3
0	YELLOW CARDS	0
1	RED CARDS	1