It certainly wasn’t a dry January for Edu Toiny-Pendred. All four goals in the victory over Kempston Rovers took his tally for the year to five, alongside four assists, after just a couple of games.

The Kings marksman’s hot form helped his side claim consecutive victories to kick off 2026 with an aggregate scoreline of 12-0, and he’s continued to make himself a handful since.

“It was definitely a good couple of weeks personally, but there’s still more to come,” the freescoring forward said.

“I think it’s a culmination of some of the things we work on in training - making sure I’m in the right positions to make an impact and help the team in any way I can, whether that’s scoring, assisting or even tracking the odd fullback.”

Having started out in the club’s under-18 programme nearly 10 years ago, Toiny-Pendred, more commonly referred to as ‘Edu’, has had spells with Berkhamsted and most recently Royston Town. But there’s something about WD4 that he just can’t stay away from.

“I’ve been to a few places and always seem to end up coming back,” he remarked.

“The club has some great people around it from the chairman to the players to the volunteers who have always made me feel at home and always welcomed me back with open arms.”

Perhaps part of the pull comes from the opportunity the club afforded him at the back end of last season. The striker was in the final stages of recovery from a horrendous ACL injury that saw him sidelined for a prolonged period of time.

Having put the hours in in rehab, Toiny-Pendred was ready to take the next step in his recovery and get back on the pitch.

Kings, meanwhile, were fighting at the bottom of Step Four. A prolific striker with a proven goalscoring record could certainly come in handy. It was a match made in heaven.

“The ACL injury was a big setback for me and it took just over a year until I was back playing,” he revealed.

“It was great to get back playing and enjoy being back on the football pitch and in the dressing room with the boys.”

It was as though he had never been away. Edu made a huge impact and almost cemented his place in the club’s history books when he bagged a last-minute winner at Northwood in their final game of the season, taking Heath’s side out of the drop zone.

Thanks to the curious composition of the schedule, they had to wait a further week for their fate to be decided, with Leverstock Green requiring a result at AFC Dunstable to keep themselves alive and thus condemn Kings.

They were helpless, forced to watch from the side, not in action on the final day. The Green duly won and Kings were relegated in the cruellest of fashions.

“I felt really unlucky that we couldn’t quite get the job done in the end to save the club from relegation,” Edu said.

“It was a big disappointment to just fall short on the last game of the season after the euphoria of the last-minute winner at Northwood, where it felt like we had done just enough to keep the club in Step Four.

“But football goes that way sometimes, you have to accept it and keep moving forward.”

And that he did. He returned to Royston for the start of the 2025/26 campaign, but again answered Heath’s call to return, with the club suffering a difficult start to life in the ultra-competitive Spartan South Division One.

His arrival sparked an extreme upturn in fortunes and a seven-game unbeaten run catapulted them up the table.

A forward line also containing the likes of Louie Collier and Matt Bateman exploded into life and The Orbital Fasteners Stadium has been treated to a feast of flowing, front-footed football.

“It’s always great to work with good players who bring a lot of quality,” Edu explained.

“I’ve played with Louie before in the Under-18s and I feel like we have a good connection on the pitch. It definitely makes the game easier when you have players who can make such a big impact around you and it really makes you raise your own standards too.

“It’s a really great squad that has been assembled by the management staff, with lots of familiar faces and a lot of talent.

“I think the biggest thing is the attitude and togetherness in the dressing room. I think this is such a credit to the management staff for their recruitment, not just the talent of the players being brought in, but also how they fit in with the squad.”

Every point is pivotal in an extremely tight tussle at the top of the table. While Kings have fallen behind runaway leader Winslow United, Edu remains fixed on the team’s targets.

“I think it’s clear that promotion is the objective for us as a collective,” he confirmed.

“Personally, I want to help out however I can to finish the job that we started at the end of last season.

“Right a few wrongs, if you will.”