In a thoroughly entertaining game, it was Leiston who deservedly emerged victorious, although the scoreline didn’t reflect how closely contested the match was.

From the off this was an open affair with both attacks looking menacing and both defences vulnerable. It only took 7 minutes for the home defence to be breached as a long diagonal ball was not dealt with by the Crows defence. Patrick Brothers benefited from the initial defensive lapse, but saw his initial effort blocked, his second effort produced more accuracy to put Leiston 1 up.

It didn’t take long for the home attack to respond, as on 10 minutes James Potton collected an Adam Murray flick on and drove a low shot from the edge of the box into the bottom corner of the net, giving Marcus Garnham in the Leiston goal no chance.

The Crows soon found themselves in the lead as Rhodell Gorden, a constant thorn in the away defence with his direct running, picked up a poorly placed header and drove towards the Leiston penalty area. With defenders backing off he tried his luck, producing a shot that Garnham turned away, unfortunately for him straight to Murray who gleefully tapped into the empty net.

The Royston lead was short lived as another long ball forward caught the Royston defence flat footed and Ben Martin somewhat needlessly brought down Christy Finch. The referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot and Finch dusted himself down to easily convert the penalty past Will Appleyard to restore parity.

Both sides continued to slug it out with Royston having more of the possession but Leiston still looking threatening going forward, with the best chances falling to Gordon who curled over and Jake Reed, who was thwarted by Appleyard in the Crows goal, atoning for a poor clearance that he was fortunate to escape with.

The second half started at the same frantic pace and it was Leiston who re-took the lead as left back Sebastian Dunbar drilled a low left footed shot across Appleyard, after the ball had been well worked to him across the Royston box.

Royston didn’t lie down though and Potton nearly added a second, only to be thwarted by Garnham’s legs and then shortly afterwards by one of a number of excellent blocks from the away defence.

The decisive goal arrived in the 68^th minute as Royston were unable to deal with yet another long ball forward that found Jake Reed in too generous an amount of space. With no covering defenders able to get to him, he drove forward and easily beat Appleyard, to give the away team a crucial 2 goal advantage.

Royston continued to press Leiston further back but found the away defence in no mood to lie down, as they repelled everything the energetic Royston attack through at them. Chances were created though and Garnham was forced into an excellent low save from Potton and Gordon headed over a Gus Scott-Morriss corner when unchallenged. The last real chance of a fight back disappeared with 10 minutes to go as Adam Murray saw his fierce drive take 2 deflections that were just enough to divert the ball onto the inside of the post before cannoning away.

All the while Leiston still looked lively on the counter attack and deep into injury time added a 5^th goal as Royston’s defence gave away cheap possession and substitute Matthew Blake was able to race clear and finish to seal the 3 points.

A disappointing end to the first home match of the season for the Crows, but they will be back in action at Garden Walk on Saturday, looking to get their first win of the season against Stratford Town.

1-Appleyard, 2-Scott-Morriss, 3-Norville-Williams (12-Dhillon 32), 4-Thomas, 5-Martin, 6-Brathwaite ©, 7-Bell (17-Bola 63), 8-Powell (16-Assombalonga 74), 9-Murray, 10-Potton, 11-Gordon

Unused subs – 14-Castiglione, 15-Casey

MOM – Rhodell Gordon