On a day that Tiger Roll won a second consecutive Grand National, Kings Langley faltered in the
final furlong in the race for the play-off positions. Having worked so hard to get into the top five with
victories in the last three matches, this was a strangely lack-lustre performance against a
Supermarine side that attacked like spitfires from the off and again demonstrated that, whatever
lofty position you have climbed to, there are no routine opponents in this most competitive of
divisions. The visitors had the ball in the net as early as the seventh minute, with Harry Williams
turning the ball in at the far post from an offside position, but the pressure continued from a lively
forward line, led by the vastly experienced Stuart Fleetwood and the prolific Conor McDonagh,
continually stretching the home side and finally reaping its reward on the twenty minute mark when
a Jamie Edge corner was headed home by Matt Williams. The midfielder popped up again fifteen
minutes later with another header, but this time the post intervened and Kings breathed a sigh of
relief. It wasn’t until the fortieth minute that Langley were able to threaten Marine’s goal when Rene
Howe put a header over the bar from a corner and half time couldn’t come soon enough for the
home side to regroup.
Certainly they were better after the break and almost gained parity when an Andronicos Georgiou
corner was headed back across goal by Jorell Johnson and Callum Adebiyi’s powerful header was
just over the bar. It was to prove a costly miss, as almost immediately Marine broke and a Conor
McDonagh cross was rifled home with apparent ease by Matt Liddiard to put them firmly in the
driving seat. Kings made a double substitution, bringing on leading scorer Mitchell Weiss and loan
signing Rohdell Gordon, but it was Andronicos Georgiou who was taking the fight to the opposition
with some telling crosses and a scything run and shot that was just wide of repeating his superb
goal against Hartley Wintney ten days previously. It was harsh on Kings then when a touchline
tackle ruled him out of any further part in the game and it fell to Rohdell Gordon to rouse the home
crowd with an electrifying wing run and cross, after Mitchell Weiss had been just off target with a
header. Kings were handed an unlikely lifeline when the defence got themselves in a tangle and
Rene Howe played in Jacob Cook for him to reduce the arrears, but it was really a case of too little,
too late as Marine held out for the points. Poole scoring a last minute winner to move within three
points and the news that Georgiou will probably miss the next few games finished off a
disappointing day, but play-off participation still remains firmly in Kings’ hands.