Kings Langley bounced back from their disappointing home defeat to Arlesey Town and beat a hard-working but low in confidence Leighton Town 2-0 on Saturday thanks to a Mitchell Weiss brace to move up to fifth in the Southern League Division One Central table.

The early exchanges were relatively even with little opportunity for either side to create an opening in the face of two well-organised defences. But as the opening period progressed the visitors gradually took control with skipper Gary Connolly the primary influence in midfield.

A smart stop by Leighton keeper Sam Mazurek denied the ever-dangerous Weiss when he through on goal on the half hour. But it was to be only a temporary reprieve as just a few minutes later superb interplay between Alex Campana and Connolly set up Weiss again and this time the young striker made no mistake, firing a low drive past Mazurek’s outstretched left hand.

Paul Hughes and Ritchie Hanlon’s were now in the ascendancy and only a fine last-ditch tackle by Kerron Birch denied the marauding Connolly another opportunity.

The skilful Campana was proving a real handful for the home defence at times; a well-executed one-two putting Connolly through to shoot inches wide and then delivering a wickedly curling free-kick which only just eluded the onrushing Manny Folarin as the visitors finished the half strongly.

Kings began the second period in similar vein and were rewarded within a minute when Campana and Weiss combined well to allow the in-form striker to grab his second of the match with a clinical finish that gave Mazurek no chance.

Langley were well on top at this stage and only a superb reflex save by Mazurek stopped Connolly from making it 3-0.

However, Leighton did threaten briefly when Dave Brown missed a gilt-edged chance to reduce the arrears due to Callum Adebeyi’s athletic intervention on the goalline. Kings’ Jack Stevens capped a fine individual display when he too was similarly on hand to clear a goal-bound effort off the line. Then moments later visiting keeper Ant Ladyman had to react quickly to tip a Brown header over the bar as the hosts battled to the end.

Kings were not to be outdone though, and finished the match on the attack with the industrious Weiss again going close before the end.