There was late drama as an impressive Kings Langley performance went unrewarded as Weymouth snatched a 3-2 victory in the final Southern League Premier Division game of the season at Gaywood Park.

The match was on course to end in a draw until the closing stages when the visitors struck twice before Steve Ward scored a second goal for Steve Conroy’s men, who had reason to feel hard done by.

With Weymouth’s play-off place assured and Kings clear of any relegation threat, both teams contributed to a pulsulating encounter, with little to choose between them.

Kings custodian Martin Bennett saved at the feet of Brandon Goodship in the seventh minute, while Mitchell Weiss immediately drew a flying save from the equally impressive Will Dennis.

As the home team took the game to the opposition, a flowing move involving Ward and Kieran Turner ended with a Gareth Price shot tipped away for a corner, before Weiss went close on two other occasions as the team from the lower reaches of the table had by far the better of the first half.

Then fortune took a hand as an additional minute of play was entered and Brandon Goodship tried a speculative drive from the edge of the box that took a wicked deflection to sail over the head of Bennett and into the net.

The goal was harsh on Kings, who had made light of the 17-place gap between the teams and somewhat against the run of play. But it gave the Terras a platform to control the next half-an-hour, with the home side finding it hard to make attacking progress, while they were indebted to Bennett for another top drawer flying save.

But with 13 minutes left, the industrious Turner brought the ball out of defence, played a measured through pass to get Weiss behind the defence on the right wing and his first-time low cross was forced home from close range by Jorell Johnson.

As the game entered its final five minutes of normal time, the scoreline seemed a fair reflection of the match, but Gaywood Park has seen more than its fair share of last-minute goals lately and would do so again.

A Weiss free-kick screamed past the defence but just the wrong side of the post and suddenly Weymouth had broken, the defence blocked the initial danger, but the ball fell to the predatory Goodship who unleashed a ferocious volley that grazed the underside of the bar on entry to the net.

As Kings threw everything forward in time added-on, substitute Harry Baker seemingly beat any offside call to slot past Bennett to compound the home support’s anguish.

But the never-say-die attitude that characterises Kings of late saw a Claudio Ofosu cross stabbed home at the far post by Ward. Unfortunately for the hosts, it was not enough to reward a very good team performance that arguably deserved at least a point.

Kings Langley: Bennett; Jung, Adebiyi, Johnson, Coldicott-Stevens; Cook, Turner; Ward, Collier (Ofusu 69), Price (Toiny-Pendred 88); Weiss. Subs not used: Collins, Gauge.