The only saving grace from a sorry 90 minutes was that the defeat was not heavier as Royton proved superior in all departments and showed more desire throughout.

Whilst Heys were missing a host of regulars it could still not excuse the ease with which an arguably impressive Royton swept them aside

The afternoon started well for Heys with a Ryan McGreevy goal giving them a 4th minute lead and when a Royton defender hit his own post with a sliced clearance shortly after it looked like a fruitful afternoon may be in store.

However, it was all down hill from there on in as Royton camped in the Heys half and literally ripped the home defence apart. The only surprise was that the sides went in level at the interval with Royton's leveller coming from Jake Coe in the 20th minute.

Within four minutes of the restart of the second half Royton took the lead when Mike Moss capitalised on an error to drill home.

Heys had little pockets of play as Royton failed to kill them off, despite a string of chances, and Paul Tierney saw a shot cleared off the line in the 86th minute.

However, Moss finally settled matters with an 88th minute penalty.

Heys Reserves maintained their great start to the season with a 3-1 win at Stockport Georgians.

A hard fought contest saw Jeff Kavanagh's side lead 1-0 at the interval, an advantage they held until ten minutes from time when Georgians levelled.

However, Heys came strong in the closing stages to score twice in the last five minutes and preserve their 100% record.

Steve Charles continued his rich vein of form with two goals and Nathan Barnes-Low added the other.

Full reports and images to follow.