| Date | Tuesday 24th October 2017 |
| Match | Royston Town v Farnborough |
| Competition | Evostik League South: Premier Division |
| Result | Won 4-3 |
| Attendance |
174 |
| Royston Scorers | Scott Bridges, Vasey(2), Murray |
| Crows MoM |
Jow Welch |
A pulsating climax, featuring 4 goals in the last 10 minutes, ended with Royston claiming the 3 points, as Adam Murray powered in a close range header to cap an enthralling Crows fightback.
The first half gave no indication of the excitement to follow, as a lacklustre home side were second best to Farnborough all over the pitch. As early as the first minute Joe Welch was forced into a finger-tip save to deny the away side an early lead. Kicking into a stiff breeze certainly didn’t help the Crows, but it was no excuse for their poor showing and Farnborough deservedly took the lead in the 33rd minute as a free kick into the box was not dealt with and Jake Evans was on hand to stab the ball home.
Having appeared to get away with just a one goal deficit at the break, Farnborough struck again right on the half time whistle. The Crows defence got themselves into trouble by overplaying at the back and were forced into conceding a corner, having had several opportunities to play the ball forward. Once again they failed to clear a ball into the box and veteran poacher Jamie Cureton was on hand to give the away side the 2 goal lead their dominance deserved.
With no doubt harsh words having been levelled at them during the half time interval the Crows started the second half with renewed purpose. The wind now passed the momentum to Royston who pressed the away side back, but initially without troubling a defence that dealt with everything competently.
The start of the comeback was instigated by skipper Scott Bridges in the 63rd minute, who from virtually nothing, unleashed a fierce drive from the edge of the box, that flew into the corner of the net before Matt Cafer in the away goal could react. Royston had the ball in the net just four minutes later as Adam Marriott followed up a Ryan Ingrey shot, but he was adjudged to have been in an offside position.
Although forced back Farnborough still carried an attacking threat and should have scored a third goal in the 75th minute as Perry Coles collected a misplaced pass and raced through on goal. Once again Royston were indebted to Welch who plucked the ball off the striker’s toes as he unwisely chose to go round the home stopper.
The real catalyst of the turnaround proved to be Jack Vasey, who within 4 minutes of coming on as a substitute in the 82nd minute, had turned the game on its head. First he collected a pass from Marriott and despite a poor first touch, managed to compose himself, to shoot under the onrushing Cafer into the net before the desperate covering defenders could intervene. His second goal owed much to Adam Murray, who despite being wrestled to the ground from a long throw into the Farnborough penalty area, managed to tee up Vasey, who smashed the ball in off the underside of the bar to give Royston a 3-2 lead.
To Farnborough’s great credit they responded almost immediately to level the scores as Connor Calcut was on hand to stroke the ball home after the referee played a good advantage as Welch pulled down Coles as he bore down on goal. The award of the goal meaning Welch only got a yellow card, that would surely have been a red, had the referee blown immediately for the foul.
The away support thought that this would result in them returning home with a well-earned point, but Murray had other ideas, as he rose majestically to power in an unstoppable header from Gus Scott-Morriss’ pin-point corner to send the home fans into wild celebration and apply a fitting finale to the frantic finish.
Royston: 1-Welch, 2-Asafu-Adjaye, 3-Chappell, 4-Bridges, Scott (c), 5-Murray, 6-Scott-Morriss, 7-Castiglione (16-Frendo 64), 8-Thomas, 9-Ingrey (14-Vasey 82), 10-Potton (15-Corcoran 64), 11-Marriott
Unused: 12-Powell, 14-Alomen
| ROYSTON TOWN | FARNBOROUGH | |
| 8 | EFFORTS ON TARGET | 5 |
| 4 | EFFORTS OFF TARGET | 4 |
| 4 | BLOCKED SHOTS | 0 |
| 12 | FREE KICKS AWARDED | 11 |
| 3 | CORNERS | 7 |
| 2 | YELLOW CARDS | 1 |
| 0 | RED CARDS | 0 |
