Royals gained their second victory of the season today, after beating Meresiders 7-1 at Russell's Meadow. Royals were without Green, Fielding and Leech and the first half was rather a scrappy affair with the new lineup taking a while to gel.

However as the second half progressed Royals did start to play some entertaining football and once they gained confidence they ended up being too strong for their opponents.

Goals from Lewis (2), Smith, Miles, Hearle, Moffat and an own goal earned the points for the Royals.

A full report can be read here.

17th September 2008 - Meresiders Match Preview

This weekend sees the Royals at home for the second week in succession, this time against Meresiders. Their opponents were promoted to the A league, after finishing 3rd last season in the B league.

Meresiders lost their first game at the weekend 6-1 against Baschurch.

Royals will be without Green and Fielding, both of whom have West Midlands schoolboy trials.

The game takes place at Russell's Meadow on Sunday with a 10:30am kick off.
Royals will be playing in Red.

16th September 2008 - Cochrane leaves Royals

Striker Josh Cochrane has decided to leave the Royals. The player, who scored 9 goals in 11 games for the club has decided to return to his previous club in Watford. Travelling home to Aylesbury every other week means that he was finding it difficult to commit to the Royals, due to the time and distances involved.

The club would like to wish Josh all the best for the future.

14th September 2008 - Weekend Results Round Up

With the Royals losing today, other results mean that they have dropped to 5th place in the table. The full league results were as follows:

14th September 2008 - Royals 2-6 Shrewsbury Juniors

Royals suffered their first defeat of the season today against Shrewsbury Juniors, after conceding 4 goals in the last 15 minutes to virtually throw away the points.

Royals were very much in the game until this last period and despite missing a penalty early on, with 15 minutes remaining the score was still at 2-2. Then a mixture of enforced substitutions and tiredness caused a lapse, in which their opponents capitalised, scored 4 quick goals and took the points.

Royals can take credit though that for the best part of the game they were equal to one of the best teams in the league.

A full match report can be read here.

11th September 2008 - Shawbury United withdraw from Charity Cup

Shawbury United, Royals opponents in the 2nd round of the Charity Cup have withdrawn from the competition, meaning that Royals have a bye into the 3rd round.

It is not yet known who we will meet in the 3rd round which takes place on 16th November 2008.

10th September 2008 - Shrewsbury Juniors match preview

Royals meet Shrewsbury Juniors this weekend in their first home game of the season. Assuming that no more heavy rain falls between now and Sunday, the pitch should be playable.

Shrewsbury Juniors will be a tough test for the Royals as they finished in 3rd place last season and also have made 3 signings from last year's league winners, Meole Brace.

Royals should have a full squad available for selection, with no reported injuries after last week's game.

The match takes place at Russell's Meadow on Sunday with a 10:30am kick off.

10th September 2008 - Training set to go ahead tonight

A change in the weather today has meant that the team will be able to train tonight. After days of heavy rain in the area, some sunshine has been spotted today, meaning that the field will have had a chance to dry out.

8th September 2008 - Royals to meet Shrewsbury Junior Colts in League Cup

Royals were drawn an away tie against Shrewsbury Junior Colts in the first round of the League Cup. The Colts came 4th in the U12s A league last season.

The match is to be played on Sunday 12th October 2008.

The winners of this match will meet the winners of Shrewsbury Juniors and Baschurch Juniors in the semi final.

Church Stretton's other team Magpies have an away tie against Baschurch Bullets in the Division C League Cup.

7th September 2008 - Baschurch 2-4 Royals

Royals excelled themselves today and gave a convincing performance to defeat Baschurch Juniors by four goals to two, in their first league game of the 2008-09 campaign.

Royals were on the back foot for much of the first 20 minutes and had to defend stoutly to prevent their opponents from taking the lead. However as the first half went on they found their confidence and started to pull themselves back into the reckoning.

Rory Smith scored the only goal of the first half, after he was put through by Liam Moffat. In the second half Sam Green made it 2-0 from a free kick that the Baschurch keeper could not hold on to. Smith got his second five minutes later, and Jack Fielding made it 4-0 midway through the second half.

Baschurch came back strongly and scored twice in the last 10 minutes to give the Royals a scare. However the Royals were able to hang on to the points.

A full match report can be read here.

6th September 2008 - Training cancelled again

For the second time in succession training has had to be cancelled today, meaning that the team will have to go into their first match without the benefit of a practice session.

Persistent heavy rain over the last 48 hours has left the pitch at Russell's meadow waterlogged.

With more rain forecast for this afternoon and tomorrow the game against Baschurch tomorrow could be at risk.

4th September 2008 - Royals given bye in Charity Cup

Royal have been drawn a bye in the first round of the charity cup which takes place on 28th September. In the second round they will meet Shawbury United from the Shropshire Junior League "C" Division.

Shawbury played in B league last season and met the Stretton Magpies on two occasions, the first seeing them defeated 9-0 and the second the turned the result round to win 2-0.

The 2nd round tie takes place on 19th October 2008.

3rd September 2008 - Baschurch Raiders match preview

Royals are preparing themselves for their first league match of the season which takes place this Sunday, against Baschurch Raiders. Little is know about their opponents except that they finished second in the A league last season and so are likely to give the Royals a tough test.

This season, for the first time in five years, there are not expected to be any easy games for the team, so the lads will have to dig deep to give themselves the best chance.

The game takes place at Baschurch with a 10:30am kick off. Royals will be playing blue.

3rd September 2008 - Training cancelled tonight

Training for the Royals has been cancelled tonight due due the heavy rain that has been falling in Stretton for much of the day.

With the team's first league match taking place on Sunday, training has been re-scheduled for Saturday morning from 10:00am to 11:30am.