1st Team v Northwood

No. 8    Tuesday 2nd September 2014.     F A Cup – Preliminary Round - Replay
Kings Langley                   1  (Weiss 73)
Northwood                         3  (Hastings 80, Asamoah 104, L Ladyman (og) 120)
The replay attracted a large crowd and this time Kings were the ones to make the better start, going for Northwood from the off. A Nick Jackson shot was fumbled in the first minute and an Alex Campana shot-C*M-cross virtually travelled the length of the line with no further contact. Tom Carter cleared a Northwood corner off the line and the rest of the half was played at a frantic pace, with the ball spending too much time in the air, but at its end Kings had no tangible reward for having the best of the session. A slick move between Nick Jackson and Danny Hutchins saw Mitchell Weiss’ shot just past the post, but with seventeen minutes to go Alex Campana probed across the face of the defence, finally trying a snap shot. The ball rebounded back to him and his first time pass was to the feet of Mitchell Weiss, whose intelligent break saw him beat Laurencin from eight yards. Kings had glory in their grasp, but a mere seven minutes later fate dealt a cruel blow to Ant Ladyman, whose performance had made this replay possible. Substitute Rob Hastings made a pacy left wing run and his shot seemed covered by the keeper, but inexplicably bounced up into his chest and trickled over the line. He showed character to make a superb save in the final minute, but Northwood entered extra time knowing that they’d got out of jail. This was exploited when, following two flying saves to deny Campana, fellow substitute Nana Asamoah broke through the centre to give them the lead as the first period ended. The run had a suspicion of offside about it, but the assistant was adamant that a player on the far right had put him on. Kings battled to the end, but sensed that their golden opportunity had gone and as they surged forward, salt was rubbed into the wound when Luke Ladyman turned the ball into his own net with virtually the last kick. A harsh scoreline that did not reflect how close Kings came to a Cup upset over a relieved team from the higher echelon.