ROYSTON TOWN FC v RUSHALL OLYMPIC FC
Saturday 11th February 2023
An injury-time winner from Royston substitute Shomari Barnwell saw Royston claim the 3 points and record a fourth consecutive home league victory.
A game containing plenty of endeavours, lacking for large parts in much quality, got off to a very scrappy start as both sides struggled to gain control. With the game meandering along it took until the 25th minute for anything of note to happen, but when it did it resulted in the opening goal. Skipper Adam Murray flicked on a long ball forward that was seized upon by Freddie Hinds. Murray spun off his marker and was found with a crisp return pass by Hinds before proceeding to fire low into the corner of the net from the edge of the box.
The Pics came closest to equalising in the 34th minute as Jermaine Hylton latched onto a deep ball into the box. His initial effort was saved by Louis Chadwick who then watched helplessly as the ball rebounded off the striker, but the fortunate ricochet went wide of the post.
The second half was a more entertaining affair, with Rushall in particular showing more intent. In the 46th minute, Liam Daly saw his downward header saved by the feet of Chadwick before the young goalkeeper dived to his left to turn away a Hylton shot.
Rushall continued to press and were rewarded with an equaliser in the 82nd minute. The Crows could not clear a corner and the ball ended up at the feet of Sam Whittall, who hooked it into the net.
This just set the stage for the injury-time winner. Nathan Tshikuna played the ball forward to the edge of the box, and a neat dummy from Ky Marsh-Brown saw the ball end up at the feet of Barnwell. With his back to goal, he held off the defender before turning and shooting past Jacob Weaver high into the net and sealing another home win for the Crows.
Royston: 1-Chadwick, 2-Da Silva, 3-Nakatani-Brown, 4- Townsend-West, 5-Murray © (20-Barnwell 52), 6-Henry, 7-Tshikuna, 8-Bell-Toxtle, 9-Hinds (14-Marsh-Brown 64), 10-Williams, 11-Harness (19-Turner 80)
Unused – 12-Keane, 13-Kyriatzis
MOM – Townsend-West
| ROYSTON TOWN | RUSHALL OLMYPIC | |
| 5 | EFFORTS ON TARGET | 4 |
| 3 | EFFORTS OFF TARGET | 4 |
| 1 | BLOCKED SHOTS | 1 |
| 15 | FREE KICKS AWARDED | 16 |
| 3 | CORNERS | 2 |
| 1 | YELLOW CARDS | 2 |
| 0 | RED CARDS | 0 |
