Kings Langley’s fairytale rise up the football ladder has continued after they completed a third consecutive promotion and won the Southern League Division One Central title by beating Petersfield Town 1-0.

“Unbelievable” was how joint managers Ritchie Hanlon and Paul Hughes described the scale of their club’s achievement and they’re not wrong.

Two years ago Kings were playing in Spartan South Midlands Division One, but after gaining promotion as runners-up they won the Premier Division crown last season and are now just one tier off National League level – or “three leagues off the Football League” as a beaming Hanlon chose to look at it.

“Unbelievable is probably the first word I’d use,” said Hughes when asked to sum up what Kings have achieved. “I am over the moon and so is Ritchie about the amount of graft [they’ve put in] and how much they’ve improved as players and men. I think that’s been a key part of our success, they’ve grown as men.

“A lot of those players have been with us all three seasons and they’ve grown with each promotion and we’re just over the moon that they’ve developed the way they have. To win a title at Southern level is a huge achievement.”

Kings went into this afternoon’s trip to Hampshire knowing their fate was in their own hands. Win and they would be promoted as champions. But with second-placed Royston Town and Egham Town, in third, two points adrift and with both having a superior goal difference, a win for either side in their potential promotion decider against each other would see them clinch the only automatic promotion spot to the Southern League Premier Division if Langley slipped up.

After an attritional first half that saw few chances – Kings midfielder David Hutton going the closest with an angled left-footed half-volley that was turned onto the outside of the post by goalkeeper Anthony Ender – the nerves among the travelling faithful became a little more frayed as news spread that Egham had taken the lead.

By this stage though, the majority of the game was being played in the Priestfield half. Immanuelson Duku headed over at the start of the second period, fellow striker Mitchell Weiss dragged a shot wide, substitute Steve Ward was denied getting on the end of a give-and-go he’d worked with Weiss while Ender just managed to keep out a Danny Hutchins half-volley after juggling the shot above his head.

But shortly after word came through that Royston had equalised - meaning Kings’ promotion fate was back in their own hands - the promotion-clinching moment arrived. The ball was played into Weiss on the left side of the penalty area and Langley’s top scorer capitalised on the yard of space he was given to slip the ball wide of Ender to make the breakthrough.

“We were always confident we were going to win the game, silly as it sounds,” said Hanlon afterwards. “Although there were not very many clear-cut chances, we always thought we had something in us. They didn’t look like scoring a goal.

“It was just nice to get it with 15, 20 minutes to go and if anything we could have got another couple after that. It’s just been an unbelievable season for us and the club and we’re just going to enjoy it.”

And they fully deserve to enjoy it but it won’t be long before Kings have to fully turn their minds to the challenge of next season.

“We’re going to obviously dust ourselves down after today and have a little think, go and watch as many games as we can in the next few weeks to see the standard and see what needs to be done, but these boys just don’t surprise you,” Hanlon said. “They just keep growing and growing and they’re so young, some of them.

“Who knows? Maybe we’ll frighten a few? Maybe they’ll think ‘we don’t want to go and play them with their work rate and their desire, we don’t want to play them'. Who knows?”