Match Report: Kidlington 2:2 Kings Langley

Kings looked to be suffering a Trophy exit hangover when two goals down on the hour, but staged a gritty comeback as Kidlington mismanaged their closing down tactics, losing their composure, discipline and two points in a frantic finale.
Jordan Parkes shuffled the pack with Isaac Pedro, Louie Collier and Will Bishop replaced by Liam Greville, Lorenzo Johnson and Raylan Clarke, but Kings early season swagger and crisp interpassing was noticeably absent from a poor first half performance as they fell behind to a fourth minute free kick by Tom Moore that was remarkable only for its simplicity and poor positioning of the wall. The Greens made all the early running as Kings struggled for any rhythm, with the splendidly named George Cowmeadow proving a handful down the left wing and Ryan-Phillips could have doubled the lead, heading over from his cross. Kings finally put the home goal under pressure when Lorenzo Johnson slalomed through the defence to unleash a shot blocked by the foot of keeper Jack Hopwood, who was relieved to see his defender block Rayan Clarke’s follow up, but the half ended with the home side by far the happier.
Isaac Pedro was introduced back into his midfield holding role and Kings gradually began to show some improvement with a Rene Howe shot from outside the area tipped round for a corner and Jorell Johnson’s downward header from the resultant corner bizarrely bouncing up over the bar! However, Kidlington delivered what appeared to be the killer blow on the hour when a free kick wide right was headed on and scooped into the net by Sam Jenkins to double the lead..
But with their unbeaten League record now under real threat and the hosts possible complacency becoming tinged with nerves, Kings machine began to tick and the introduction of Louie Collier boosted their attacking threat. The manager’s policy of a small squad with fierce contention for playing time has borne fruit with four goals coming from substitutes already this season and it was from an unlikely source that the goal came to put Kings back into contention.
A Sam Murphy corner caused a scramble in a packed area and it was Isaac Pedro who prodded the ball home after Rene Howe’s shot was blocked. The green of the pitch was to become as one with the green shirts of fallen players as they demanded frequent visits from the physio to break up play and other time wasting tactics were to result in five more bookings and an additional eleven minutes added, as the referee lost patience. In the end, it was the experience of Rene Howe that was to save the day for Kings as he tempted Ben Richards into an unwise challenge from behind and stepped up to covert a penalty, bravely awarded by the official in the fourth minute of that added time. The final seven minutes were to see Kings the more likely to take the points, but in light of all that had gone before it, a draw was a fair result, but one that left Kings feeling that they had probably got out of jail!

Roy Mitchard