ROYSTON TOWN (Garden Walk)

FA TROPHY 2nd ROUND, ROYSTON TOWN 5-2 THAME UNITED,
ATTENDANCE: 170

As I was on my way south to that there London for a Sunday trip to The Bridge, I was looking for something suitable en-route for my Saturday football fix.

I will be absolutely honest and say my first choice was the Isthmian League game between Corinthian- Casuals and Tonbridge Angels but this game was postponed as the former were knocked out of FA Trophy, whilst the latter went through.

FA Trophy? My attention was now drawn to this competition and the all Southern League tie between Royston Town and Thame United caught my eye, so it was to Hertfordshire I headed.

The journey down took longer than expected so there was just about time for a brief walk up the High Street and a quick drink in the local 'spoons before making the short walk to the ground.

Royston Town are the second oldest club in the county (after Hitchin Town) having been founded in 1875. The club have played their home games at Garden Walk since 1932. The ground is hemmed in with houses surrounding the ground on three sides and a cemetery on the other.

The club have made good use of the available space and the ground has rural feel to it. There is a large seated stand alongside one side of the pitch and a wooden 'decking' covered stand in one corner of the ground. There are two of the ubiquitous arena stands, one in the other corner and one behind the goal. There is also an overhang from the clubhouse, where the majority of home fans stood during the game.

Royston Town are currently members of the Southern League Premier Division Central, which is the highest level the club has played at in its history. The club gained promotion to the Southern League (as Champions) in 2012 after nearly 20 years in the Spartan South Midlands League. They won the first division title in 2017 to gain promotion to step 3 of the pyramid. The club are currently in third place in the table and their forthcoming clash against league leaders Kettering Town was the talk of the terrace.

It was cool and overcast as I arrived at the ground but by the time the game kicked off the weather was appalling. It absolutely bucketed down but the conditions made the pitch slick and wet, which always makes for an entertaining game in my humble opinion. Thame opened the scoring after 12 minutes when a fine move and cross was finished off by Lynton Goss.

Thame had a glorious chance to double their lead after 15 minutes when Liam Tack broke clear with only the keeper to beat but his attempted chip was easily gathered by Joe Welch in the Royston goal. Almost straight away The Crows went up the other end and former Leyton Orient striker David Mooney fired home to level things up.

Royston were now moving the ball around well and before half time some good passing football created the openings for Mooney to complete his hat-trick (35 & 41).

Thame started the second half brightly but were soon 4-1 down after 55 minutes when Jamie Essex deflected the ball into his own net.

Royston squandered chances to further extend their lead but did eventually score a fifth, and arguably the goal of the game, when Spyros Mentis (79) turned and volleyed the ball into the top corner from the corner of the box. Game over?

Well not quite. In the last 10 minutes, seemingly with nothing to lose, Thame went for it and got a goal back through Tack after 81 minutes. They also hit the post and missed two great chances as the ball pinged around the box. The Royston defenders were throwing their bodies on the line to block the shots.

In the end though it was Royston who deservedly went through to the third round and they will now have another home tie, this time against Needham Market.

AFC SUDBURY (King's Marsh Stadium)

FA TROPHY 2nd ROUND, AFC SUDBURY 1-3 MACCLESFIELD TOWN, ATTENDANCE: 505

Hello and welcome back to my humble little blog. A belated Happy New Year and a big thank you for taking the time to have a look at my inane ramblings!

With the bitterly cold weather that has hit the UK over the past few days, I decided to play it safe and head to a match with an artificial pitch, though a dumping of snow in the area on the Friday morning still gave me cause for concern, but luckily it bypassed the ground of my intended destination.

So, with the game was definitely going ahead, for my first journey of 2017, I headed into deepest Suffolk for what looked like, on paper anyway, a very intriguing FA Trophy tie as AFC Sudbury, of the Isthmian Premier League, were taking on Conference National (and former Football League) Macclesfield Town.

Macclesfield are currently a few points off the play-off places, having won all three of their games in 2017, whilst Sudbury are a few points above the drop zone but, as the cliche goes, anything is possible when cup ties are concerned, especially if the so called bigger team doesn't treat the competition with respect.

AFC Sudbury have good pedigree in national cup competition having reached the FA Vase final three years on the bounce from 2003-2005, losing on each occasion. This run started just four years after the club was formed when Sudbury Town and Sudbury Wanderers joined forces in 1999. The AFC actually stands for Amalgamated Football Club.

In the club's debut season in 1999/2000 the club finished 3rd in the Eastern Counties League before going on to clinch the league title for the first time in 2001 and the subsequent four season after that. Each time though the club declined promotion. The club accepted promotion in 2006, ironically after finishing 3rd, and played at this level (either in the Isthmian or Southern League) before clinching the Isthmian league Division One North title in 2016.

AFC Sudbury play at the King's Marsh stadium, which was originally the home of Sudbury Wanderers (Sudbury Town's Priory Stadium was sold off for housing) and is on the outskirts of the town. This meant a fair trek into the town for a pre-match snifter. It was worth the trek though as we decamped to The Brewery Tap (home of the Mauldons brewery) and sampled their fine selection of ales before heading back to the ground (at this point I must mention that there was a real ale available in Sudbury's excellent clubhouse).

The ground had filled up nicely in our brief absence and Sudbury's biggest crowd of the season settled down to watch the game. This was AFC Sudbury's first time in the 2nd round proper of the FA Trophy and it turned out to be just a step too far.

Despite having a fair amount of possession, and playing some neat football, they never really hurt Macclesfield and two first half goals effectively killed the tie.

Rhys Browne (23) got on the end of a long punt and ran through to slot home home. Likewise Anthony Dudley (32) who was played through to fire past Marcus Garnham in the Sudbury goal (pictured left).


Macclesfield's third goal never arrived until the 84th when Jack Sampson scored but, with two minutes remaining, the home crowd finally had something to cheer when a neat passing move presented an opportunity for Liam Wales to score a deserved consolation.

I must give a big thanks to whoever updates the AFC Sudbury twitter feed (@afcsudbury) for keeping everyone informed on the status of the game, especially the heartening tweet around 7am to effectively say game on, it was much appreciated by this particular groundhopper!