It will be the master against the apprentices in the dugout tomorrow as Kings Langley joint-bosses Ritchie Hanlon and Paul Hughes go to Steve Ringrose’s Potters Bar Town side.

The duo, who have guided Kings to the summit of Southern League Division One Central with eight games remaining, have known the Scholars’ boss for a number of years.

But Hanlon doesn’t expect Ringrose to be doing them any favours when the two sides meet at Parkfield with Potters Bar desperately trying to close the gap on the play-off places.

“Again it’s a very important game and they are a very good side,” said Hanlon. “I’ve known their manager for a long time because he was my football coach as a kid at Under-6 level.

“He’s a winner and he always puts together decent teams so it will be a tough game.

“The last time we saw Steve was the game we played at home. I’ve known him all my life, he’s a friend of my dad’s, and Paul knows him too. He won’t do us any favours though, that’s for sure.

“As far as I’m concerned it’s just another game on the fixture list that we’ve got to play.”

While Hanlon and Ringrose go way back, Hughes got to know the former Finchley, Ware and North Greenford United boss more recently.

“I got to know him a lot later in life than Ritchie,” he explained. “He asked me to coach the Middlesex County team when I was running the Brunel University team.

“That was about six or seven years ago. We’ve stayed in touch and become friends ever since. We speak about teams in this division all the time.

“He’s someone that gave me a coaching role and we continue to speak about this level of the game. He’s one of the first people we spoke to when we got promoted about players and the teams to look out for in this league.”

One of those teams would have been Egham Town, the side directly below Kings in the league standings.

They are a point behind the village side with a game in hand. Until recently that had been two games in hand. But they were trounced 4-1 at home by Bedford Town on Tuesday, a result which will have been very welcome at Gaywood Park.

However, Hanlon insists there is no pressure on his players, who have greatly exceeded their own expectations by leading the division.

“I think they do [feel a little bit of pressure] but we don’t put any pressure on them,” said Hanlon. “We say to them as long as you perform and work hard then that’s ok with us.

“There’s no pressure on us as a football club. Other clubs are under pressure. If we go up, we go up. If we don’t go up, we don’t go up. It’s not going to affect our football club.

“The best thing about our boys is they play without fear – they don’t give a damn. Obviously they do when they’re playing but they aren’t feeling the weight of any expectation.

“It’s a really nice vibe and it’s played a big part in getting us where we are now.”

Kings might have felt some pressure on Saturday when they took to the field for a game as leaders for the first time.

Play-off hopefuls Aylesbury were the visitors to Gaywood Park but on a pleasant spring day Kings overcame the Moles with two goals in five minutes.

Skipper Gary Connolly steered home a sumptuous volley before substitute Matt Bateman raced cleared and deftly lifted the ball over the visiting keeper.

Kings continued to push for further goals, with substitutes Immanuelson Duku and Lorenzo Ferrari both missing chances to enhance the hosts’ lead.

“That’s why the boys want to play,” said Hanlon. “They know it’s not a case of going 2-0 up and putting 11 men behind the ball at this club.

“We know it might come down to goal difference. Egham Town and Royston Town have both got better goal differences so it might be important at the end of the day.”

He added: “We’ve not had the biggest squad this season but they have been tight. They know each other inside out and they are willing to fight for each other. That spirit has won us extra points because they dig in when they’ve got to.”