No. 6    Saturday 29th August 2015.     F A Cup – Preliminary Round
Kings Langley                              0
AFC Rushden & Diamonds           1  (Quigley 55)
This was an absorbing cup tie between two evenly matched teams that although short on incident and thrills, demonstrated the fine line between success and failure. Ninety minutes of football, in which both defences coped with everything thrown at them, came down to five seconds of inspiration when Diamonds’ Sam Brown launched a huge throw-in to the near post and Dan Quigley reacted to turn the ball into the Kings’ net. The visitors took control of the opening ten minutes, without anything on target, but Kings came back to have an Ollie Cox twenty yarder just wide and a Gary Connolly shot on the turn go even closer. Diamonds then had a Tommy Berwick header disallowed for handball on the half hour and a further header wide from a good position, but the best chance fell to the lively Connolly, who miscued his shot. The second half opened with a teasing Alex Campana cross just out of reach and a thunderbolt from Danny Hutchins superbly blocked by a defensive barrier and then came the defining moment when Diamonds landed the killer blow. Kings battled to the end, as the pressing midfields of both teams ran themselves to a standstill, but a Stuart Deaton header was the closest they came as Matt Finlay in goal was so well protected, he was not called on to make a save of note, while his opposite number, Ant Ladyman made his first in the 82nd minute. So Diamonds progress and Kings reflect, after an encounter that was intriguing, but never boring.