1st Team v Hitchin Town

CANARIES SINGING IN THE RAIN
No. 21    Tuesday 7th November 2017.     Southern League Cup – Round 2
Kings Langley    2 (Johnson 20, King 84)        Hitchin Town    4 (C Donnolly 46, Webb 57, Vincent 70, Tshikala 77)              
Continuous rain and cold winds lashed Gaywood Park for the entirety of this second round League Cup match, making good football difficult, but it was the Canaries who moved into the last sixteen after a strong second half comeback. Both sides gave opportunities to players, with Kings giving a full debut to Aidan Collins and Jay Karagozlu making his second start on the other wing. After a cagy opening twenty minutes, it was Kings who struck first. Mitchell Weiss’ left wing run had been halted and the defender attempted an inside pass to his colleague. Jorell Johnson, relishing his midfield role showed remarkable anticipation to intercept the pass between the two, round the outcoming debutant keeper and slot the ball into the net. Both sides traded blows in the appalling conditions, with Lucas Kirkpatrick going close for the visitors, but Kings remained in front until the interval. That was to change in the first minute of the second half when Callum Donnelly headed in a Kevan Cotter cross and then another header by Dan Webb saw Hitchin take the lead. Kings seemed to be bearing the brunt of the conditions and looked to be struggling as Connor Vincent added a third and debutant Patrick Tshikala put the ball in the net within thirty seconds of coming on. To their credit, Kings did not take this lying down and mounted a series of attacks that saw Phillips do well to save from Michael King on two occasions when a goal looked likely. Brendan Ocran and Mitchell Weiss put efforts narrowly over, before King took the ball off the toes of a team-mate to curl an exquisite shot into the top corner. It was a fitting reward, but was to prove merely a consolation.                          RM