4 days ago5 min read

Match Preview | Royston Town (A)

Halesowen make the two hour trip to Hertfordshire to face Royston Town on Tuesday night

Written by Ben Ditchfield

Following the postponement of the weekends match against Stamford due to storm Darragh, Russ Penn's side are quickly back in league action with a trip to an inconsistent Royston Town side, who have only been able to string consecutive wins once since March.

The Yeltz travel to Hertfordshire knowing a win will put them level on points at the top of the league after Kettering Town fell to a late 2-1 defeat to Barwell last night following a 93rd minute penalty that was converted by 39 year old Leroy Lita.

This is just the fifth time in half a century that the two sides have met, the Yeltz have lost just one of the previous four that included a Jak Hickman winner in the 87th minute in the last meeting between the two at the Garden Walk back in March.

The 3-0 defeat to The Crows back in February still looms over the club, in what was the final match before the start of the reign of Russ Penn. The game saw current Royston man Kian Harness bag a goal, who has currently scored twice in just four games this season after rejoining from a short spell earlier this season at Bishop's Stortford and Andronikos Georgiou score a brace, who has since left The Crows to join Wingate & Finchley.

Halesowen have only scored two goals in the four meetings since 1980 with both goals coming from defence with Jak Hickman's goal in March and former Yeltz player Kieran Morris who scored against The Crows in February 2019.

Penn's sides last match saw them suffer a narrow 6-5 defeat on a penalty shootout after academy talent Ryan Fletcher got an equaliser in the first minute of the second half that sent the game to spot kicks.

A win against Royston on Tuesday night could see the Yeltz claim an eighth win in the last 10 occasions when falling to defeat the match prior, demonstrating the remarkable character Russ Penn's side show when suffering setbacks.

"A manager builds a team on character and mentality", said the Yeltz boss when speaking to Radio Halesowen Town's Ben Ditchfield last week. "It's a true testament to the lads that we have shown it so much recently, particularly in the Stourbridge game where with a minute to go in a game we are staring down a defeat, we are able to navigate our way to claiming something from the game.

"We are digging in to snatch results in games and that character in the squad is massive, i try and build that on all teams i have got but you need the right players for it and we have brought in the players this season that have helped us build it."

Our opponents Royston are in their eight successive campaign in the third tier and in their last outing came away with a 3-1 defeat to Stamford just over a week ago. The side salvaged an equaliser just before the break thanks to Demaray Anyadike's first goal of the season, but his goal and Royston's best period of the game failed to transfer over to the second half.

This game will be The Crows 28th game of the season as they currently 17th in the league and have won just one of their last four at the Garden Walk. They did though manage just like the Yeltz to defeat the current league leaders Kettering Town at home in their 1-0 win against The Poppies in September, they are also the only team to stop the leaders from scoring this campaign.

Royston boss Chris Watters joined the club after the 2022/23 season and became joint manager with Steve Castle who had been at the club for a decade before his departure in December last year. Castle's departure put a short end to the pairs joint managerial spell but then saw Chris Watters lead The Crows to five wins in a six game unbeaten streak after he become the sole manager at the club, before he led them to a respectable 10th place finish.

Watters has been in charge for a total of 71 games in all competitions, that has seen him claim a 40% win ratio over that period and score 104 goals and concede a symmetrical 104 goals. His side are on a goalscoring spree of late that has seen them score eight goals in three games, after scoring just six in seven games prior to that.

Nine Royston players have scored multiple goals this season compared to Halesowen having just four players that have managed the feat. Luke Johnson is the sides current top scorer with six goals in the 25 games he has played in this season. Club captain Adam Murray, Ben Weyman and Daniel Izekor all have scored at least four times but the latter has since moved on to Biggleswade Town.

Russ Penn's side will need to be aware tonight of Royston's ability to outplay their opponents in the first half of games, that has seen 14 of the last 19 league goals they have scored come in the first 45 and has also seen them fall behind at half time just once in their last 12 league matches.

In games when they are ahead at the break, The Crows can become a tough cookie to crack with just three defeats in their last 64 games dating back to December 2018 when ahead at half time, a strong start will be necessary for Penn's side if they want to avoid the possibility of becoming the latest victim in Royston's tremendous record.

Key Seasonal Stats

Royston

League Position - 17th

Season Record - PL27 11W 6D 10L 37GS 34GC

Form (Last 5 Games) - LLWWL

Top Scorer - Luke Johnson (6 Goals)

Most Appearances - Ben Weyman, Joshua Coldicott-Stevens, Tyrone Baker (27)

Most Starts - Ben Weyman (24)

Biggest League Win - 4-0 vs Biggleswade Town (Away - 26th November)

Biggest League Defeat - 3-0 vs Spalding United (Home - 15th October)

Longest Unbeaten Run - 4 Games (14th September - 1st October)

Longest Winless Run - 5 Games (13th August - 2nd September)