Kings Langley were denied a second successive Southern League Premier Division victory by a controversial decision as they had to settle for a 1-1 draw at St Ives Town on Saturday.

The visitors were already leading through Josh Coldicott-Stevens’ 30th-minute opener when the first-half substitute had a second goal ruled out after the break as Mitchell Weiss was adjudged to have taken the ball out of play in the build-up.

St Ives duly made the most of that escape to score an equaliser soon after, although the goal had looked increasingly to be on the cards.

With Emmanuel Folarin finally receiving international clearance on the morning of the match, the management were handed a selection problem and his inclusion in the starting line-up meant that Sam Tring was the somewhat unlucky defender to make acquaintance with the bench.

Another Langley player to have a personally disappointing afternoon was Stevie Ward, who departed with a strain after 11 minutes, meaning that his side had lost a player in the first quarter-of-an-hour in two of their first three matches of the season.

The visitors started at a high tempo and Weiss had two shots on the run saved by Kai McKenzie-Lyall in the opening ten minutes, before Saints had their first sight of goal with James Hall shooting wide.

As the half-hour mark approached, a Kieran Turner cross from the left was headed straight at the keeper by Gareth Price, but a minute later a trademark diagonal delivery from the right by Lee Stobbs was stabbed home through a crowded defence by Coldicott-Stevens, who had come on for Ward.

Kings proceeded to dominate the rest of the half, with a fierce Kieran Turner drive tipped over by McKenzie-Lyall being the closest they came to adding to their lead.

But the second half was a different story, as the Ives brought on Ben Seymour-Shove and looked a different team, with Hall immediately missing a good chance for parity.

But in the 57th minute came the controversy, when Weiss cut in to the bye-line from the left to deliver the cross for Coldicott-Stevens to fire home. Out of play signalled the assistant on the far right touchline and the ‘goal’ was disallowed to the dismay of the visitors. While photography supported that claim post-match, it was irrelevant.

St Ives took advantage of the let-off to up the pressure and the goal that had looked to be coming duly arrived on 65 minutes when a left-wing cross was met on the volley by Seymour-Shove.

The momentum had firmly shifted and Kyle Forster tipped over a point blank Dubi Ogbonna header as Kings now found themselves holding on for a point.

Ultimately, it was to be an attitude shared by both teams as Forster pulled off another smart save and Weiss shot just wide in the final minutes of a game that probably merited the over-used cliché of a game of two halves.

Kings Langley: Forster; Connolly, Johnson, Adebiyi; Folarin, Hitchcock; Stobbs, Ward (Coldicott-Stevens 11), Turner (Waldren 75); Weiss, Price (Bircham 81). Not used: Tring, Ocran.