1st Team v Crawley Green

No. 37    Saturday 22nd March 2014.     Spartan South Midlands League – Division 1
Kings Langley                                   1 (Jackson 3)
Crawley Green                                   2 (Adebiyi og 37, L Toomey 70 pen)
Fortune and officialdom failed to smile on Kings Langley as they lost their home record and vital ground in the promotion race, as well as finishing with nine men. Yet it had begun so well as a classic passing move caught the visiting defence flat footed, with Callum Adebiyi’s through pass squared back by Connor Toomey for Nick Jackson to net from close range. Kings struggled to build on this though and Green’ physical and verbal tactics gradually began to see them dictate the tone of an increasingly ill-tempered game, culminating when Henry Munewira’s run and cross saw the ball glance off Callum Adebiyi’s head  and into the net. With little love lost between the two teams, the second half saw flowing football in short supply, but when Munewira found space on the left, Danny Hutchins recovery and saving tackle seemed a good one, but the referee thought otherwise and Hutchins’ vociferous protests to the assistant referee ended in the double whammy of a red card. Liam Toomey put away the spot kick and things got worse for Kings when Lee Burgoyne, who had been the subject of continuous heavy tackles, delivered one of his own and received a second yellow. Amazingly, the nine men took the game to the opposition for the remaining 18 minutes of time played, producing their most threatening period of the half. Apart from a Crawley break that brought an incredible save from Ant Ladyman when one-on-one, it was Kings who did the attacking and when Alex Campana rode three tackles to cut back the perfect cross, Lewis Pritchard’s point blank header grazed the top of the bar to deny a courageous fight back against all the odds.