Kings Langley remained firmly in the Southern League Division One Central play-off hunt as an impressive first-half performance laid the platform for a 3-1 victory over Bedford Town in their first home game for a month on Saturday.

The win keeps Paul Hughes and Ritchie Hanlon’s side sixth in the table, two points outside the play-off zone and six behind leaders AFC Rushden & Diamonds.

The hosts turned on the style in the opening period, dominating the first quarter-of-an-hour with a Mitchell Weiss shot deflected and a Dean Hitchcock fizzer that Maxime Fondup Siwe could not hold. Weiss netted the rebound but was ruled offside, before the keeper turned a David Hutton volley around the post.

At the other end, Xavi Comas had to resort to some punched clearances when under aerial bombardment, but Kings took the lead with a glancing Connor Toomey header from a Hitchcock corner on 18 minutes.

One quickly became two as Weiss pounced on a poor Josh Beech clearance to drill the ball home and Kings were now making light of the conditions to demonstrate their full range of passing skills, with Hitchcock and Hutton particularly influential in midfield.

Christian Lester did unleash a shot just past the post for the visitors, but in the first minute of the second half they were given a lifeline when Toomey made a hash of clearing his lines and Josh Bamford gratefully lashed the ball past Comas.

This understandably breathed life back into the Eagles and they enjoyed their best ten-minute passage of the game, before Toomey came close to getting his account back into credit with a venomous shot that was tipped over by Fondop Siwe.

But Weiss restored the buffer when he latched onto a long ball, was forced wide on the by-line by the attentions of two defenders, who seemed to have dispossessed him. But aided by Stevie Ward, he regained possession and beat the pair and the keeper for a goal of sheer persistence.

Bedford had their moments, with James Peters missing a golden chance to reduce the deficit again, but as the temperature continued to drop below freezing point and the large crowd became concerned about the implications of frostbite, Kings saw out a comfortable victory to keep them on the edges of the play-off zone.