An FA Trophy trip to Salisbury or Dorchester Town is the reward for Kings Langley after they advanced through the first qualifying round following a 5-3 victory at Phoenix Sports.

Saturday's tie was witnessed by an attendance of just 90 but they were treated to an action-packed first half that saw two penalties, one of which was missed, three yellow cards and seven goals, five of which were scored before 20 minutes were on the clock.

Kings’ resources were stretched with five players out, so manager Chris Cummins opted for a 4-1-4-1 formation with Charlie Pattison moving to right-back and Louie Collier making his first start for the club since January.

The game was barely a minute old when an exchange of passes down the left between Kehinde Aileru and Lewis Clark resulted in the latter’s cross being firmly headed home by skipper Jack Hopkins.

But the home side’s euphoria lasted exactly a minute as Collier delivered a low cross that Kane Farrell reacted to first to beat keeper Steve Phillips.

The Phoenix response was slower, three minutes to be precise, as Melvin Minter was tempted into no-man’s land by a ball out to Ben Allen on the right and the young winger conjured up an unlikely goal with an impressive lob of the back-pedalling keeper from an acute angle.

The action quickly switched back to the other end and Stevie Ward was brought down by a clumsy challenge in the box, but Phillips guessed correctly to save his penalty and then Hopkins was fortunate to receive only yellow for a ferocious challenge on Farrell.

Parity was restored when a Farrell forward ball put Collier one-on-one with Phillips and his finish across the keeper was coolness personified, before Kings went ahead for the first time when a corner from the ubiquitous Farrell was met by a superb glancing header from Mitchell Weiss. All this and there was only just over a quarter of an hour played.

By those standards, there was a relatively quiet period until five minutes before the break, when Farrell completed a hat-trick of assists with a diagonal forward ball to Weiss, who beat Phillips via a deflection off Clark.

The Isthmian League South East Division outfit refused to be overawed and again brought themselves back into touching distance with a powerfully converted penalty by Harry Harding after Roddy Collins was adjudged to have brought him down in a tussle.

The second half resembled a normal game after that, Callum Adebiyi and Farrell clearing off the line to bail out a defence that still looked vulnerable at times, while Weiss missed a chance for a hat-trick.

But there were few other incidents of note until substitute Max Hercules kept the ball in play down the left, slipped it to Kyle Connolly and blasted home the return ball to finally settle an absorbing and entertaining encounter in the visitors’ favour.

Kings' second qualifying round opponents are due to replay tomorrow night after Saturday's first meeting ended in a 3-3 draw.

Kings Langley: Minter; Pattison (Hercules 56), Johnson, Adebiyi, K Connolly; Collins; Ward (Lamboh 88), Coldicott-Stevens, Collier, Farrell; Weiss. Subs not used: Victor, Brady.