Kings Langley can be forgiven for wondering what cruel hand they will be dealt with next after the odds were stacked against them from the very first minute of Saturday’s 4-1 defeat at high-flying Farnborough.

The contest was rendered unequal from as early as the 20th second when a loose ball forward, virtually from the kick off, was touched by on-loan Watford goalkeeper Alfie Marriott’s hand outside the left hand edge of the box and the referee produced a red card.

To award a red, the keeper has to be denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity and with at least two Kings defenders between Marriott and the goal, it was hard to see how this could be the case.

With no reserve keeper on the bench - Jack Berman having joined the club’s now infamous injury list - Kyle Connolly went in between the uprights and produced a more than acceptable performance against the odds.

Langley adopted a resolute reaction to the thought of playing the whole match with only ten men and it took a quarter of the encounter before a low cross into an extremely crowded box rebounded off Jorell Johnson into the net to reinforce the belief that one of their number had run over a black cat.

Impressive Aldershot loanee Elis Watts scored a fine individual goal on his debut for Farnborough, driving hard at the defence and unleashing an unstoppable 15-yard drive to give an interval scoreline of 2-0.

The spirit of the visitors remained undimmed however and eight minutes into the second period they produced another inter-passing move, the like of which had seen them fashion a couple of good chances in the first half.

Roddy Collins received the ball far left, his shot was blocked, but laid off to Bradley Wadkins, whose legs were taken from him as he was about to shoot. As the visiting fans demanded a penalty, Harry Crawford saved the referee the decision by smacking the loose ball home and the scoreline took on a different look.

But a penalty for handball crushed any hopes of an unlikely comeback as Paul Hodges made it 3-1 and tired legs conceded another from Elliott Buchanan as the match ground to its conclusion, whereupon a sporting and somewhat sympathetic crowd applauded Kings from the field.

The Hertfordshire side remain confident, that if given the rub of the green at last, they can move up the table, and they will hope their fortunes take a turn for the better against Harrow Borough tonight.