WE GO OUT OF SENIOR CUP ON PENS

We took a short trip down the A41 to play Kings Langley at the Orbital Fasteners Stadium for a Herts Senior Challenge Trophy (First Round) game. Kings play at Step 4 in the Football Pyramid which is a level above us and they are having a good season, presently lying 7th in the table.

This was going to be a challenging game and after going 2 nil down it looked like it was going to be a disappointing day for us. But we came back strongly with a cracking goal from Frankie Hercules and then an equaliser from Ben Kakembo only to go out of the competition on penalties.

The early part of the first half was fairly event free with Kings probably enjoying more possession without really testing Luke Midwinter in goal. Kings had one or two moments but we defended well and managed to keep them out. Our best chance fell to Frankie Hercules who struck a lovely free kick from around 20 yards just wide of the post in the 27th minute.

Our hosts did break the deadlock in the 34th minute with a fine shot from Brad Smith to go in at the break with a slim one goal advantage. HT Score 1-0.

Kings doubled their lead in the 56th minute when Lewis Duberry converted a penalty and it started to look like we had a mountain to climb. But we started to pay well and looked the better side and in the 79th minute we pulled a goal back through Frankie Hercules who produced a superb shot from around 25 yards out. Six minutes later Ben Kakembo headed in the equaliser to take the game to penalties which we unfortunately we lost 4-2. FT 2-2 (4-2 Pens).

A terrific performance from the lads against a team from a higher league. We now have two more cup games coming up with a trip to Cheshunt’s ground for a Challenge Trophy game against FC Romania on Wednesday. Then on Saturday we travel down to Essex to play Saffron Walden in the FA Vase. At the moment we have quite a few players out through injury so lets hope we can get some of them back for these two cup ties.

Team:

TA: Luke Midwinter, George Carbery (Capt) (Jack Harvey 63), Adam Sawyer, Greg Deer (Capt), Dave O’Connor (Blake Argent 71), Harry Beaumont, Mason Clarke, Frankie Hercules, Harry Shepherd, Harry Jones (Bailey Osborne 63), Ben Kakembo.

Scorers:

KL: Brad Smith (34), Lewis Duberry Pen (56)

TA: Frankie Hercules (79), Ben Kakembo (85)

Crowd: ?