KINGS RUE MISSED CHANCES

The bid to take points from the fifth consecutive away game ended in failure, but once again Kings were the better side, but only had themselves to blame for spurning at least three golden opportunities to wrap up the points. Brady Hickey got himself into a good position for Barwell after three minutes, but his weak shot was comfortably saved, while Eoin McKeown shot wide when set up by Mitchell Weiss. However, it was Weiss who demonstrated his predatory talents to give the visitors the lead in the thirteenth minute when a block tackle and raking diagonal long ball by Kane Farrell set him onto a three way chase with accompanying defender and advancing goalkeeper to not only reach the ball first, but to lift it over Martinez with power and into the far corner of the net. With Charlie Ruff supplying a range of intuitive passing from the centre of midfield, Kings looked set to build on that, but Dominic Brown-Hill got them back into the game with a surprise goal thirteen minutes later that deceived the defence to go through the crowd and edge the right side of the left hand post. The Farrell-Weiss combination came into play again, but this time Martinez pulled off a smart save and then the striker’s powerhouse run resulted in a square pass to McKeown, who missed the target from close range. Both sides were now putting their faith in the long, high ball tactic, which wasn’t the greatest of entertainment for the crowd, but Kings closed the half with a Callum Adebiyi rocket superbly tipped round the post by Martinez and from the ensuing corner, a Jorell Johnson header should have restored the lead, but was wide of the mark.
The long ball was now dominating the second half, but as Callum Adebiyi got his close range shot horribly wrong after the impressive Henry Eze made a rare mistake in defence and presented him with an opportunity, the feeling grew that Kings would be made to pay for their profligacy. So it proved, when the long throw from Cain Thomas that had troubled Langley all afternoon, was converted by Brady Hickey and Kings knew they were likely to be on the end of a mugging. They still looked to have the firepower to salvage a point, despite a heroic clearance off the line by Jorell Johnson, but when Harry Crawford’s fierce shot drew a great save from Martinez and a Roddy Collins piledriver was cleared off the line by Jamie Towers, the writing was on the wall. That Omotola broke to round Melvin Minter in the third minute of time added on was merely to rub salt into the wound and give a flattering scoreline on a day that proved to be a bridge too far.

By Roy Mitchard.

After the game, Kings Langley manager Dean Barker said: " Well the unbeaten run is over. In all honesty five straight away league games and all of pre season on the road was always going to be a tough start so I'm really pleased with how we have embraced the situation. Wasn't quite good enough in both boxes today despite playing very well at times during the game. All good teams have blips so I'm looking forward to our response in training this week ahead of our FA Cup game at home to Barking FC on Saturday."