CROWS SILENCED BY YELTZ
Goalless draw frustrates hosts
ROYSTON will view this as a wasted opportunity to keep the pressure on leaders Kettering as they were unable to take advantage of the first-half dismissal of Lee Hughes in their stalemate with Halesowen.
In truth, the home side never really did enough to warrant claiming all three points, as a dogged defensive display from Halesowen ensured the Crows were restricted to few sights of goal.
Halesowen set up in a defensive formation and were quickly forced on the back foot as Royston looked to move the ball quickly.
Early attacking intentions were clear as James Potton headed over from a Jordan Norville-Williams free kick and Bance Bola as denied by Cameron Gregory in the Yeltz’ goal.
Despite this early promise, it was Halesowen who nearly opened the scoring as Thomas Hales-Docherty saw his low shot hit the outside of the post.
Royston responded immediately as Norville Williams saw his curling free kick go just wide of the posts.
With both teams starting to take a more robust approach, Hughes saw red on the half-hour mark as he arrived late for a challenge on Ben Martin going straight through the back of the big defender and leaving the referee with little option.
Halesowen quickly reorganised following the sending-off and adapted far better than Royston, who seemed to be more affected despite having the extra man, and up until half-time made no impression on the away defence. The start of the second half saw Royston dominate possession and had their most dangerous period as Rhodell Gordon shot wide and James Potton saw his shot blocked on the line.
Gordon then went on a mazy run that took him into the away box. His shot was
ROYSTON T 0 HALESOWEN T 0
partially blocked and away keeper Gregory did well to ultimately tip the ball over the bar.
However, the course of the game was to take another turn as home striker Adam Murray received his marching orders for an innocuous looking coming-together with away skipper Daniele Bragoli. Once again the sending-off seemed to affect the Crows more as they lost the momentum that they had built up.
With the numbers evened up, neither side gained an upper hand, although David Mooney for Royston and Ravin Shamsi for Halesowen saw good opportunities well saved by the opposing keepers.
This was as close as either side came to breaking the deadlock as both sides were forced to settle for a point in a hard-fought game that was far from a thrill-a-minute contest. STAR MAN: Cameron Gregory (H’owen) ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★★★