Match Report

Tuesday 4th September 2018.     Southern League Cup – Preliminary Round
Kings Langley         0            Welwyn Garden City        1  (Bond 28)
Kings Langley made five changes for this League Cup tie, giving starts to Steve Bourke, Harry Tucker, Arjun Jung, Davide Pobbe and Stevie Ward in place of Charlie Burns, Kavan Cotter, Dean Hitchcock, Mitchell Weiss and Josh Coldicott-Stevens. Welwyn are riding on the crest of promotion to Division 1 and have made a good start in the Southern League, but it was Kings who fashioned two good openings in the first quarter of an hour, with Stevie Ward and Rene Howe both steering headers just past the post.  City settled into the game and looked to be about to go ahead when a break that was patently offside led to an open goal for Josh Bronti, but he miscued his shot for a painful miss. The home relief was short lived, as minutes later a defence splitting ball allowed Dan Bond to give Steve Bourke little chance and slot the visitors into the lead. Kings play became ragged, the introduced players struggling to make an impact and it was a Rene Howe chance and an Elliott Godfrey long shot that were to be their best efforts as the half closed.
There was more of the same in the second period as Langley upped the tempo, but a resolute defence in a well drilled side stood firm, with a Harry Tucker shot just wide of the post being the best they had to show for their efforts. Rene Howe was by far the most likely candidate to draw Kings level and as the tie entered the last five minutes of normal time, he had a powerful shot well saved by Dan Green and was then thwarted again when the keeper blocked his next effort on the line. He turned provider for Edu Toiny-Pendred in time added on but the youngster just lacked the composure to save the day and when a Lee Stobbs angled shot fizzed just wide, Kings race was run and City deservedly progressed to the next round.