Royals suffered to their third successive defeat this morning after being comprehensively beaten by a well organised and determined Shrewsbury Junior Colts side at the Sports Village. This latest defeat means that only 1 point has been gained in their last 4 outings and it is now unlikely that a runners up spot will be achieved.

Form the outset Royals looked second best, with their opponents wanting to win more. Royals were second to everything and failed to seriously challenge in the 50/50 situations.

The Colts took the lead after 15 minutes when Royals failed to clear and a shot was fired home from 10 yards past goalkeeper Keugler. This spurred Royals' opponents on and they piled on the pressure for the remainder of the first half.

Royals, already without the injured Leech, suffered another injury blow after Miles had to be carried off with a serious looking knee injury. He was taken to hospital as a precaution.

Colts' second goal came from a move down the right hand side. A shot came in from a narrow angle, and a rare error of judgement from keeper Keugler saw the ball cross the line, when it really should have been saved.

For the second half Royals swapped Al Houbani into midfield and moved Fielding back into defence, in an attempt to win more of the ball in the centre of the field. This helped to an extent and Royals enjoyed their best spell after this change. Al Houbani came close twice, firstly shooting just over the bar, and secondly just wide. Green also came close on two occasions after seeing one shot go over the bar and a free kick go narrowly wide.

Despite this, Royals always looked vulnerable at the back and with the Colts' superior strength and ball control, it wasn't long before they scored their third. Royals' defence were caught out of position and  with strikers queuing up to finish, keeper Keugler was helpless.

With Royals chasing the game they moved more players upfront, still with a hope of getting something out of the game. However it wasn't to be and a fourth goal was added to the tally, after a poor goal kick landed at the feet of a Colts player, giving him the opportunity to lay the ball off to a team mate, who calmly slotted the ball past Royals' outstretched keeper.

A poor performance and one which will definitely need to be greatly improved if Royals are to make a seriously challenge in the League Cup final in 2 weeks time.

Team: Keugler, Agnew, Green, Al-Houbani, Smith, Miles (Baker 20), Weynberg (Watts 30), Hearle, Fielding, Moffat, Lewis