19 hours ago6 min read

Match Preview | Royston Town (H)

Out of sorts Halesowen host a red hot in-form Royston Town with their top five status under jeopardy

Written by Ben Ditchfield

The Yeltz welcome Royston Town to The Grove, a side who have won more points in their last 10 games (20) than any other side, Halesowen on the other hand, could suffer a fourth defeat in succession for the first time since April 2019 and could go four games without a non-penalty goal for the first time since December 2018.

The most recent meeting between the two was only last month, as the Yeltz travelled to The Garden Walk, while on a run of six games without defeat in the league. A dominant 60-minute period saw the side fail to test Tommy Dixon-Hodge, and in the three minutes that followed the hour mark, Russ Penn’s side went down to 10 men due to Ryan Wynter’s red card, before Royston claimed an 89th minute winner through Ben Weyman.

This is the sixth meeting between the sides dating back to 1980, the earliest recollection of known matchups between the two, Halesowen have won twice in the previous five, but have scored just twice in those five meetings, both goals coming in 1-0 victories. The most recent clash at The Grove, saw what was then Paul Smith’s Yeltz side, hammered in a 3-0 demolition job by the visitors, with a brace from Andronicos Georgiou and a goal from Kian Harness, a defeat that a few days later pushed Smith into the decision of resigning from the club.

Radio Halesowen Town’s Ben Ditchfield caught up with the current Yeltz boss Russ Penn during the week, ahead of the fixture. “You could say it was blessing that we get to turn our form around this weekend in front of a packed home crowd, we prepared for Kettering last weekend and were all set to go, but obviously it was called off.

You must take the positives from something like that happening, we get an extra bit of time to prepare for Royston that we would not have had if we had to travel last weekend and debrief from it, other sides who played that day who are around us in the table dropped points as well. The weather that has carried over into this week has not affected us for this game on Saturday, we train on astro turf so that was fine even though you still have to be careful, and also, I have been in the game long enough to know how to prepare for games in awkward conditions.”

Penn also commented ahead of the game about our recent defensive woes and the situation of recent acquisition, Jamie Willets, on his future at the club. “Our defensive issues of late have not been helped by the fact we missed Ryan Wynter for three games, but we had someone like Jamie Willets who helped us out in that period of our captain’s absence. Jamie is on dual registration right now, so we will see how it goes, he wants to compete with the Tamworth squad, but after their game against Tottenham this weekend, we will assess the situation and go from there.

“It will be a huge and stern test this weekend as every game is, you look at their results and other sides results, none have taken the league by the scruff of the neck in the last month, but their form is remarkable especially considering where they were just two months ago. We did not deserve to lose to them last month, the red card completely changed the game, and we were also not helped by the fact we were missing Kieren (Donnelly), but they proved that day they are a rigid, strong and very well organised and fit team, so they will come to us full of confidence.

"For us, we are under a lot of pressure at the minute as we attempt to get back our form, I put pressure on the players to us back to winning ways and then pressure on myself to do that. We have worked hard the last week to prepare for Royston and turn this blip we have around as quickly as possible.”

The Yeltz come into the game, following a week and a half of not playing after the game against Kettering Town last weekend was called off due to snowy and icy conditions. The sides last match came against Bromsgrove on New Year’s Day, which saw the side suffer a 2-0 defeat and a first defeat against The Rouslers after three successive wins against them. Goals from Jamie Meddows and Finley Holmes in the first 25 minutes of the second half and a lacklustre second 45 from the Yeltz, prompted Russ Penn to name it ‘one of the worst halves we have played’ under our current run of defeats.

Royston come into the game on just two defeats in their last 10 league games and fresh off a 3-0 win over Barwell last weekend, in what was a dominant performance throughout from The Crows, which saw goals from Harrison Rookard, Archie Locke and Josh Coldicott-Stevens, the latter’s first league goal since February last year. Our opponents are currently in 7th place and are playing in their 34th match of the season in all competitions, five more games than the Yeltz’s 29.

The side have gone from 17th in the division to just four points from the play-off positions in just two months. They went through a spell of six defeats in 10 during the period from late August to the start of November but have since lost just twice in their most recent 10 matches, both of which were defeats on the road to Stamford and Bromsgrove. They have also kept five clean sheets since the start of November, more than any other side in that time.

Their boss Chris Watters was assistant manager at the club for almost nine years and then became manager on a joint basis with Steve Castle, before the latter ended up taking over as the manager of Bishop’s Stortford at the start of this campaign which meant Watters was the sole manager at the club. Watters at the start of his managerial career at The Crows, initially lost his first two games in charge, in August 2023, a 3-0 defeat to Telford and 4-0 loss to Bromsgrove, but then he and his side failed to lose again until his 11th league game in charge. The 43-year-old has overseen 76 matches in all competitions at the club, accumulating 32 wins, which during that time has seen his side score a healthy 111 goals and concede a respectable 105 goals, an average of just 1.3 a game.

Royston do not have an out and out goal scorer, but do have something that could be even more pivotal, a share of the goals, as they have had 16 different scorers this season. Crows captain, Adam Murray, has scored more goals than anyone else with seven, with Luke Johnson and Ben Weyman close behind on six and five respectively. Royston subsequently have not lost in the six games that Murray has found the back of the net in all competitions this season. The Crows have two ever presents this season, one of them Weyman and the other Josh Coldicott-Stevens, both of whom have featured in all 33 games this campaign, while the pair have also started 29 times, the joint most alongside James Brighton and Tommy Dixon-Hodge.

The side have only been behind at half time twice in their last 18 league games and 60% of the last 75 goals they have scored in the league, have come in the second half of matches. They have though only won once in the last 20 games when they have conceded the first goal, but have a good record when ahead at half-time and scoring first, of just one defeat in the last 18 when leading at the break and an incredible statistic of just one defeat in the last 45 league games when they have scored the first goal.

Key Seasonal Stats

Halesowen

League Position - 4th

Season Record - PL28 14W 3D 11L 49GS 39GC

Form (Last 5 Games) - WWLLL

Top Scorer - Kieren Donnelly (18 Goals)

Most Appearances - Todd Parker (28)

Most Starts - Ryan Wollacott (27)

Biggest League Win - 5-0 vs Lowestoft Town & Barwell (Away - 5th November & 14th December)

Biggest League Defeat - 4-0 vs Hitchin Town (Home - 21st September)

Longest Unbeaten Run - 6 Games (5th October - 16th November)

Longest Winless Run - 3 Games (30th November - 14th December & 26th December - present)