Nerves gave way to scenes of relief and celebration on Saturday as Kings Langley beat Salisbury 2-0 to secure their Southern League Premier South status by a single point.

Kings were guaranteed to finish third from bottom of the table, but the restructuring of the pyramid meant only one team in that position from the four Step 3 divisions would be relegated.

Even a win wasn’t certain to prevent Chris Cummins’ side from going down, but goals from Alfie Williams and Erin Amu – plus a fine penalty save from Alfie Marriott – ultimately proved to be enough.

The Langley boss named an unchanged team and they started as they had to, attacking their hosts from the first whistle. The pace of wingers Alie Bangura and Ben De Lacy-Turner troubled the Whites from the outset and their willingness to cover back as soon as play switched further frustrated their hosts.

The combination was to bear fruit when De Lacy-Turner sent a superb diagonal cross-field pass over to Bangura and his first-time ball to Williams allowed the midfielder to drill home his third goal in successive matches.

Salisbury reacted and Abdul Baggie scuffed his shot as the defence dithered and Marriott saved with his feet soon after, but the visitors grew in stature as the half went on and could have gone further ahead when a Jamie Jellis break saw him choose to shoot instead of the pass to Bradley Wadkins and a Williams free-kick was just over.

Equally, the slender lead was only preserved by a saving tackle from Alex Lafleur as half-time approached.

The contest followed a similar pattern after the break, a Lafleur run and shot tipped round the post by Pat O’Flaherty, who then did enough in a one-on-one with Wadkins to force the striker to put his finish just past the post.

The goalkeeper was in action again to push a Jellis shot to safety and the feeling grew that Kings would rue not taking these chances. And so it was to prove, as the 73rd minute saw the referee not only award a penalty for a challenge by Aryan Tajbakhsh, but brandish a red card as well.

The travelling fans held their collective breath as Charlie Davis stepped up to the spot. The kick was a good one, hit with force, but Marriott guessed correctly, flung himself to his left and finger tipped the ball round the post.

It was a lifeline, but Kings still had to survive nearly 20 minutes of an increasingly desperate bombardment from their opponents. Jorell Johnson and Sam Dreyer were superb in the heart of defence, ably supported by Lafleur and Ryan Case as their side’s ‘we’ve come this far, they shall not pass’ attitude shone through.

As the minutes ticked away and other results showed that a win would be enough, there was to be a final twist in the tale.

Williams refused to hoof the ball upfield from a beleaguered defence in stoppage time, while the recipient of his measured pass, Erin Amu, refused to take it to the corner flag, but instead ran the length of a near deserted half to slot the ball past O’Flaherty and signify that Kings had, after all, done the seemingly impossible and completed the great escape by a single point.