Steve Heath will begin his second spell in charge of Kings Langley with the visit of Barton Rovers on Saturday. Heath was appointed as Head Coach earlier this week, after Jordan Parkes departed, and will now take charge of the club where he presided over great success in his first spell, ending back in 2009.

That period concluded with the club denied promotion to the Premier Division only as a result of deficiencies with the ground, having also won the Division One league title and two Herts cups in his four seasons in the dugout. However, upon returning to WD4, Heath will be faced with a somewhat different challenge.

The side’s recent form has been poor, with three losses in a row and no win in five. As a result, they’ve dropped down to 15th place in the Southern League Division One Central and are beginning to lose touch with the loaded mid-section of the table.

Heath will have to unite a young and ever-changing squad, with a number of loans coming in and out so far this campaign, and it’s hoped he can work similar wonders to his first tenure in charge, where his 66% winning record was the best out of any Kings manager in the last 25 years.

It’ll be far from a simple start for Heath, as third-placed Barton Rovers head to The Orbital Fasteners Stadium at the weekend. While their form has dropped off slightly since Christmas, Jermaine Hall’s side will still prove a formidable early test for the new-look Kings Langley team.

They were held to a 0-0 draw by Beaconsfield in their last encounter, and they’ve failed to win in five out of their nine games since the turn of the year. While far from a disastrous stretch, it does mark a notable downturn in form for the side, whose 4-1 loss to Real Bedford in their last game of 2024 was their only one since 1st October.

That fine end to the year included a 2-1 victory over Kings in November, when a Declan Phillips goal wasn’t enough to see his side emerge from Bedfordshire with anything to show for their efforts.

Prolific forward Taylor Rhiney was on the scoresheet that day, one of 17 strikes for the season, and he’ll be a handful for a Kings defence likely to consist of relative newcomers Ben Casey and Kieran Gauthier.

How the team lines up elsewhere remains to be seen, however, with Heath set to familiarise himself with the squad and decide upon his preferred style and playing personnel. Bentley Assiedou is likely to be the main threat going forward, and is inarguably the in-form man for the side.

With their last two fixtures, away at AFC Dunstable and at home to Biggleswade on Tuesday, both being postponed, it’ll be nearly a couple of weeks since they were last in action when they take to the field on Saturday. They’ll be hoping that a bit of rest, the introduction of some new philosophies and a potential ‘new manager bounce’ are enough to fire them to a result in front of their home fans this weekend.

Saturday’s game also sees the club celebrating the exponential growth of the girls section in recent years, with the ‘Her Game Too’ matchday. Entry is free for all females and our partners Healthy U Girls Football Academy will be hosting a range of free activities for girls of all ages and abilities on our youth pitches from 1.30pm!

Make sure you get yourselves down to the ground early to take part in all the fun events and help us recognise the importance of our girls football. Kick-off for the first team game is at 3pm and marks our second annual ‘Her Game Too’ fixture.