The Royals travelled to Royston on a cold February morning and it has to be said that the Royals were not switched on and did not start well, they looked as though they want to be under their duvets. Early in the game Archie Beattie keeping goal for the Royals showed some fancy footwork in the goal mouth to keep the ball away from his opponents. There was also a good exchange of passing between Henry McAllister in midfield and William Brown on the right wing. Alfie Perryman worked hard to get involved and held off a player well during his attempts to keep the ball. Keiron Bliss got a strong shot away after a good pass from Henry but it was well saved.
The Cougars first goal came after a move started in defence, Ryan Gasson found a good pass to McAllister, who ran into space and then found Perryman who ran with the ball well and found the net with a nice accurate shot into the left side netting!
As the first half came to an end the Royals had done some things well but had mostly struggled to impose themselves on the game. After a ‘chat’ with their coach The Royals came out with more fighting spirit in the second half. William Brown was full of running and got a good shot away which went just wide. The Royals passing was crisper and soon after Brown made another mazy run forward and got another shot away, just wide. The Cougars had woken up!
Brown’s energetic runs forward and shots at goal were becoming a feature of the Royals’ game as the second half progressed and he was brought down unfairly a couple of times. He was rewarded shortly afterwards with a lovely strong accurate shot from around ten yards, straight down the centre of the goal, great goal from Brown. He also showed good resilience soon after, he was knocked over backwards quite hard, but got straight up and ran onto the ball and got another shot away, showing a lovely attitude to the game. The Cougars all fought much better and grew stronger as the game drew to a close.
