Kings Langley continued their pre-season preparations with a heavy defeat at the hands of neighbours St Albans City at The Orbital Fasteners Stadium on Tuesday evening.

After an even start to the game, Rene Howe stooped to nod in a low cross at the back post to give Kings a well-deserved lead just inside 20 minutes, but from then on our National League South opponents showed their class and took control.

The game was quickly levelled by former Kings striker Mitchell Weiss, who slotted home through the legs of the trialist ‘keeper for Langley. Moments later we conceded a soft penalty to allow their trialist to convert and put St Albans ahead.

City extended their advantage when Weiss rounded the goalkeeper and finished into an open net on the stroke of half-time and the returning centre-forward completed his hat-trick moments after the break as he was afforded too much space in the penalty area to tap home a cross from the right wing.

As more and more substitutes were introduced by both teams, the game became increasingly stretched in the closing stages, which led to a fifth goal for the Saints, scored by Dylan Fage following a swift break.

With heavy legs among the Kings defence, the St Albans trialist capitalised on two lapses of concentration at the back to bag his own treble in the final ten minutes.

There was something to cheer about for the Langley faithful late on as captain Jorell Johnson beat the offside trap to nod home a consolation off the underside of the crossbar from an injury-time corner.

The defeat will have at least given Jordan Parkes and his coaching staff a better idea about the abilities and limitations of the current squad. Their main takeaway will likely have just been more minutes in the legs of the players as they prepare for the season opener in a couple of weeks’ time.

Kings will be back at The Orbital Fasteners Stadium on Saturday afternoon as they host Watford under-21’s in their penultimate pre-season fixture.