A long trip to Wales resulted in a forgettable display from Kings Langley as they were well beaten 4-1 by Merthyr Town.

Steve Conroy’s side were playing catch-up from the very first minute and aside from another goal for the in-form Mitchell Weiss, there were few positives for the visitors on Saturday.

Following Thursday’s 1-1 draw at home to Biggleswade Town, the Kings manager’s options were depleted by injury and unavailability to the extent he was only able to name two substitutes.

The home side were quickly in the driving seat after the towering Ryan Prosser’s powerful header was blocked on the line, only for Martyrs captain Ashley Evans to force the ball home.

That early strike set the trend and Merthyr proceeded to dominate with Ian Traylor providing a regular outlet on the left for their attacking initiatives.

Traylor, himself, was only denied increasing the hosts’ advantage by a great double save from Martin Bennett.

Kings briefly rallied and Weiss had a good effort blocked and from the rebound Kieran Turner extracted a fingertip save onto the bar from teenage custodian Ed Hewitson.

The visitors were given a golden opportunity to restore parity in the 35th minute when Wright needlessly pushed Gareth Price in the box but Steve Ward’s resultant spot-kick was routinely saved by Hewitson.

The reprieve spurred the home side into resuming normal service and a quick-fire double from the ever-threatening Prosser just before half time gave Kings a mountain to climb.

Merthyr almost reprised their lightning start to the first half at the start of the second period but this time the offside flag spared Kings’ blushes. But the trend was once again set as the home side’s regular incursions continued to stretch the visitors’ defence.

Kings introduced 16-year-old Ed Toiny-Pendred from the subs bench in the 65th minute and the youngster made an immediate impact, setting up Price for a snap shot which Kyle Patten did well to block.

Just minutes later the teenager’s contribution was to prove even more significant as he combined well with Weiss to allow the striker to burst clear of the home defence and finish adroitly into the bottom corner.

Any thoughts of an unlikely comeback, however, were quickly dispelled as the hosts again restored their three-goal advantage when an unmarked Jarrard Wright headed home Traylor’s pin-point cross to set the seal on a thoroughly convincing victory for the home side.

Kings Langley: Bennett; Ward, Adebiyi, Johnson, Cook; Coldicott-Stevens, Turner; Price, Collier, Collins (Toiny-Pendred 65); Weiss. Sub not used: Hodgins.