1st Team v Codicote

No. 16    29th September 2012.     Spartan South Midlands League - Division 1
Codicote                            1 (Kane Dougherty 80)
Kings Langley                   1 (Nathan Pooley 88)
An interesting encounter between two of the teams in the top five played out to a draw, with all the action and drama coming in the last ten minutes. All Kings neat approach work floundered on the defensive rock of home skipper James Taylor, who won everything in the air, while Codicote threatened on the wings but were well contained down the middle. John Chittendo had a clear chance on 15 minutes, but hit the post, while Kings closest was a Liam James header over on the half hour. The second period continued in the same vein when a run and cross by Callum Adebiyi saw Gary Coyle’s chip gathered by Billy Barnes and at the other end Ray Ancliffe won himself some space but shot wide. As the game entered the last quarter of an hour, one goal looked increasingly likely to settle it and Tom Carter’s cross was well volleyed by Nathan Pooley, but Barnes produced a spectacular tip-over. The pendulum then swung as the visiting defence made its only real error of the afternoon and Kane Dougherty took advantage of a misunderstanding between Scott Bonner and Anthony Ladyman to chip the latter and seemingly take the points. But this Kings side is a resilient one, and with two minutes on the clock, a bouncing loose ball in the centre circle fell to Nathan Pooley, who looked up, saw Barnes off his line, and hit a 47 yard shot over the keeper and into the centre of the net. With Jimmy Armstrong an injured passenger up front, a minute later Pooley delivered a low inch perfect cross to the striker, who was physically unable to get a touch, thus preserving a scoreline that was probably a fair reflection.             Line-up (4-4-1-1)