Kings Langley boss Paul Hughes is backing his troops to bounce back and set off on another winning sequence after their ten-game unbeaten run came to a halt with a 3-1 defeat at Potters Bar Town on Saturday.

Hughes, who joint-manages the side with Ritchie Hanlon, says his table-toppers have always responded well to defeats and he expects them to do so again, starting with tomorrow’s home clash against mid-table Godalming Town.

He said: “I am not worried about their character. They wouldn’t have won two promotions in two seasons if they weren’t strong-minded. They have always responded well to setbacks. They have that confidence about them and they know that they will win more games than they lose.”

Kings, who had amassed 28 points during their fine run, stayed top of the Southern League Division One Central table despite last weekend’s defeat because Egham Town and AFC Rushden & Diamonds failed to take advantage, slipping to their second and fourth consecutive defeats respectively, but Royston Town moved ominously up to second place, a point behind the leaders. Egham missed a further opportunity to take over at the top when they were suffered another defeat at Fleet Town on Tuesday.

Hughes felt there was not a lot wrong with Saturday’s performance but said they ran into the wrong opponents at the wrong time.

Potters Bar, who were themselves on a seven-game unbeaten run going into the fixture, had just resigned the league’s top scorer from last season, Josh Hutchinson, and their tails were up, while Kings were robbed of the services of centre back Stuart Deaton, who was away on a stag-do, and central midfielder Dean Hitchcock.

Hughes said: “It was a tough game last week but we didn’t do a lot wrong. We worked hard and went to the end but we didn’t get the breaks that we have been getting. I couldn’t fault the effort, we put a real shift in and, nine times out of ten, that performance would have earned us a result but sometimes you have got to give the opposition credit as well.

“We’d had a run of nine wins and a draw and we knew that eventually we were going to lose to somebody and that we couldn’t keep getting it our own way.”

Hitchcock and Deaton should both be back for tomorrow’s encounter against a Godalming team that Kings will be looking to complete the double over following January’s narrow 1-0 win in Surrey.

Hughes said: “The lads know it is going to be tough, but we are used to that and we’re looking forward to it.”

Kings started brightly enough against Potters Bar and might have won a penalty when Mitchell Weiss went down in the box but their appeals fell on deaf ears.

Having survived that, the Scholars began to put their own moves together as two equally matched sides probed for the all-important opening goal.

Unlike in their previous fixture against Aylesbury, it was Kings who blinked first as Evandro Delgado was given far too much space on their right and allowed to cut in and blast the ball past Xavi Comas, who got a hand to it but was beaten by the power of the shot.

It got worse ten minutes later when a move that started on the left switched wings before the ball arrived at the feet of Joe Bennett, who finished with ease.

Kings battled back in the second half, but any hopes of a comeback were thwarted when another lapse on the left saw Jack Lyons seize on a loose ball to round the defence and slot home the third.

Leading scorer Weiss laboured hard and was rewarded when a Ryan Plowright through ball saw him use his strength to hold off a defender and gain some consolation for Kings, who then had a good spell of pressure.

Another goal then would have set up a potentially exciting finish, but it was a case of too little, too late as the Scholars held on for a deserved win.