ROYSTON TOWN FC v TAMWORTH FC

Saturday 25^th March 2023

League leaders Tamworth comfortably saw off Royston Town as goals from Dan Creaney and Eoin McKeown saw them cruise to victory.

Royston started brightly trying to play at a fast tempo to take advantage of the benefit of the strong wind blowing straight down the pitch. The wind made playing constructive football difficult and consequently resulted in few chances being created the only meaningful effort being a long-range strike from Tom Newman that was comfortably saved by Jasbir Singh in the away goal.

With the hard-working Tamworth midfield closing the home side down quickly in the central areas the Lambs gradually began asserting themselves on the game and taking control. Royston were given a warning of the away team’s intent as Jamie Jellis cut in from the right wing before firing a shot just wide. The opening goal followed soon after in the 28th minute as Tamworth took full advantage of being awarded a soft free-kick wide on the left-hand side. A good delivery from Benjamin Milnes found the head of the league’s leading scorer Daniel Creaney, whose downward header bounced up into the roof of the net, giving Dimi Kyriatzis no chance.

With the balance of play now swinging very much to the away side, Tamworth started to dominate proceedings and Kyriatzis had to be alert to save from Luke Fairlamb and McKeown. The best save of the game though came in first-half injury time as he turned away a well-struck Milnes free kick that was destined for the top corner until his intervention.

The second half continued in the same vein with Tamworth controlling proceedings as Royston struggled to get out of their half. Their cause wasn’t helped in the 57th minute as a misjudgement on the halfway line presented McKeown with the opportunity to race clear of the defence. Composing himself as he cut in on goal, he calmly slotted the ball past the advancing Kyriatzis to double the lead.

Royston continued to struggle to make an impression and it was left to Kyriatzis to keep the score down as he made 2 late saves to deny substitute Kyle Finn.

After the game home manager, Steve Castle was pragmatic in defeat “we ultimately got what we deserved from the game, it is important that we do not let the season fizzle out. It was good to get some game time out of players coming back from long-term injuries and we will use the rest of the season to integrate these players back in, whilst giving some of our fringe players a chance to show what they can do”.

Royston: 1-Kyriatzis, 2-Da Silva, 3-Brighton, 4-Bell-Toxtle (16-Rotimi 62), 5-Murray ©, 6-Asafu-Adjaye (12-Crowther 73), 7-Williams, 8-Hoddle, 9-Bateman, 10-Barnwell (14-Harness 37), 11-Newman

Unused – 15-Castle, 19-Hall

MOM – Dimi Kyriatzis